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STUDIES 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 



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BY 



J. WILLIAMS, D.D., LL.D. 

BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT 




NEW YORK 
THOMAS WHITTAKER 

2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE 
1888 






Copyright, 1888, ' 
By THOMAS WHITTAKER. 



RAND AVERY COMPANY, BOSTON, 
MADE THIS BOOK. 



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PREFACE 



The writer of the following pages has for a long time felt 
that if the Acts of the Apostles could be generally read in 
the orderly way in which people usually read history, a great 
gain would result, not only for the better understanding of 
the New Testament, but for the more intelligent comprehen- 
sion of the origin, organization, and early development of the 
Church. It has seemed to him, that even the printing of 
the book arranged under proper divisions and subdivisions, 
with proper titles prefixed to each, would accomplish a good 
deal in the direction- just indicated. This, therefore, is the 
first thing he has endeavored to do ; preserving, however, for 
convenience of reference, what otherwise would have been 
dispensed with, — the division into verses. 

The fragmentary and desultory way in which all Holy 
Scripture is too often read is everywhere disastrous ; but it 
is especially so in those parts in which we are presented with 
continuous history. No man would dream of reading ordinary 
history, whether ecclesiastical or secular, in the way in which 
many read the Acts of the Apostles. And it ought to be 
remembered that this book is history just as much as are 
the works of earlier or later writers of church history. The 
difference between it and the ordinary church histories does 
not lie in the character or subject-matter of the several writ- 
ings, but only in the conditions under which they were com- 
posed ; the Book of Acts being written under the guiding 



IV PREFACE. 

presence of the Holy Spirit, and the others having and 
claiming no such presence. 

Moreover, it is only by grasping the fact, so easy to take 
up when it is once stated, and so completely ignored by 
vast numbers of readers, that all the events recorded must 
have taken place before the record was made, that we attain 
correct ideas of the relations of the church with its organiza- 
tion, doctrine, sacraments, and worship, to the Scriptures of 
the New Testament. Then, and not before, we learn what 
so many miss of learning, the great truth that in Acts and 
Epistles we are not to look so much for commands as to 
what was to be done, as for recognition of what had already 
been done. Had this matter been fully understood hardly 
three centuries ago, a good deal of Hooker's immortal work 
need not have been written. 

This volume is in no sense (nor was it intended to be) a 
commentary on the Book of Acts. It is simply what its 
name imports. Nor is it designed for scholars, though the 
writer hopes there is nothing contrary to sound scholarship 
in it. It is written in the firm and abiding belief that Chris- 
tianity came into the world not merely as a doctrine, or a life, 
or an idea, or a book ; but as an Institution, comprising in 
itself all the things just named, — being, indeed, the " Mount 
Sion, the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." 

These studies end with the twelfth chapter and fourth 
division of the book, and do not touch the last and largest 
portion, the Mission to the Gentiles. The change in the 
history, however, makes it possible to stop at this point 
without leaving work half done. Whether this volume will 
be followed by another, must depend on circumstances 
beyond the control of the writer. 

Berkeley Divinity School, February, 1888. 



LAY-OUT OF THE BOOK. 



The Book of Acts, regarded as a history of the foundation 
of the Christian Church and of its early propagation, naturally 
divides itself into five parts : — 

I. A brief summary of events and transactions during the 
forty days that intervened between the resurrection and 
ascension of our Lord ; with special notice of what occurred 
in the ten days which separate the ascension, from the 
descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. 
Chapter i. 

II. The story of Pentecost, the birthday of the Christian 
Church. Chapter ii. to ver. 42. 

III. The Mission to the Jews, beginning at Jerusalem, and 
extending to Judaea and Samaria. Chapter ii. ver. 42, to 
chapter ix. 

IV. The preparations for the Mission to the Gentiles. 
Chapters ix. to xii. inclusive. 

V. The Mission to the Gentiles. Chapters xiii. to xxxiii. 
inclusive. 

These different parts, it is hardly necessary to say, must 
be subdivided into various sections. 



VI LAY-OUT OF THE BOOK. 

Thus, as we may readily see, the entire book becomes a 
commentary on the words of our Lord, " Ye shall be wit- 
nesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." ■ These 
words present the law for the proper arrangement of the 
book, and enable us to reduce its contents to an harmonious 
order. 

1 Acts i. 8. 



CONTENTS. 



Part £ 

THE FIFTY DA YS. 

SECTION I. — A Brief Summary of the Great Forty Days . . 3 
SECTION II. — The Ten Days of Expectation 11 

Part 3HE. 

THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
The Birthday of the Christian Church 23 

Part Itt 

THE MISSION TO THE JEWS, BEGINNING IN JERUSALEM 
AND EXTENDING TO JUDAEA AND SAMARIA. 

SECTION I. — The Earliest Days of the Church in Jerusalem . 51 

SECTION II. — The Earliest Trial from without; the First 

Persecution 80 

SECTION III. — The Earliest Trial from Within; Ananias and 

Sapphira 89 

SECTION IV. — The Second Persecution 92 

SECTION V. — The Institution of the Diaconate 97 

SECTION VI. — The Third Persecution 102 

SECTION VII. — The Mission to Samaria no 

vii 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Part ffl. 

THE PREPARA TIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 

SECTION I. — The Conversion of Saul, and its Consequences .125 

SECTION II. — Travels and Labors of St. Peter 135 

SECTION III. — The First-Fruits of the Gentiles 137 

SECTION IV. — Reception at Jerusalem of the Intelligence 
that the gentiles were admitted to the 
Church 147 

SECTION V. — Other Preparations for the Mission to the 

Gentiles 154 

SECTION VI. — The Fourth Persecution .... 162 



PART I. 

THE FIFTY DAYS. 



STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF ACTS. 



Part £ 

(Chapter I.) 

SECTION L 

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 
{Chap. i. vv. /-//.) 



i The former treatise have I made, O 
Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to 
do and teach, 

2 Until the day in which he was taken 
up, after that he through the Holy Ghost 
had given commandments unto the apostles 
whom he had chosen : 

3 To whom also he shewed himself alive 
after his passion by many infallible proofs, 
being seen of them forty days, and speak- 
ing of the things pertaining to the kingdom 
of God : 

4 And, being assembled together with 
them, commanded them that they should 
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the 
promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye 
have heard of me. 

5 For John truly baptized with water; 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost not many days hence. 

6 When they therefore were come to- 
gether, they asked of him, saying, Lord, 



wilt thou at this time restore again the 
kingdom to Israel ? 

7 And he said unto them, It is not for 
you to know the times or the seasons, which 
the Father hath put in his own power. 

8 But ye shall receive power, after that 
the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye 
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusa- 
lem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and 
unto the uttermost part of the earth. 

9 And when he had spoken these things, 
while they beheld, he was taken up ; and a 
cloud received him out of their sight. 

io And while they looked stedfastly to- 
ward heaven as he went up, behold, two men 
stood by them in white apparel ; 

ii Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, 
why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this 
same Jesus, which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen him go into heaven. 



In connection with this summary should always be care- 
fully read those portions of the Four Evangelists which re- 
late to the period covered by it. Here, however, only the 
summary can claim attention. 

i. We are at once presented with the fact that our Lord 

3 



4 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 

" shewed Himself alive after His passion " to the apostles, 
" being seen of them forty days." Not that He was with 
them continually, or continuously, during that period ; but 
that from time to time He appeared to them. "As He was 
forty days after His birth before He was presented in the 
temple in the earthly Jerusalem, and, again, forty days after 
His baptism before He entered on His ministry, so now 
He waits forty days after His birth from the grave before 
He presents Himself in the temple of the heavenly Jeru- 
salem, and enters on His priestly ministry in the true 
Holy of Holies, where He ever liveth to make intercession 
for us." x 

2. Two purposes of these appearances are very distinctly 
indicated, and we need not seek for others : first, that by many 
proofs He might convince the apostles of the verity of His 
resurrection ; and secondly, that He might speak to them of 
the kingdom of God, and the things pertaining to it, and 
give them His commandments. 2 

3. The first of these purposes brings to mind the words of 
St. Peter, " Him God raised up the third day, and shewed 
Him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen 
before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him 
after he rose from the dead ; " 3 and these words suggest 
several questions. Why should the proofs have been given 
to witnesses chosen before, and not to all the people ? 
Does not the selection of witnesses suggest the idea of prac- 
tising and collusion ? Would not the evidence have been 
stronger and more irresistible had it been offered to all alike ? 
Unbelief has not been slow to raise these difficulties, and 
undoubtedly believers have often been staggered at them. 
The following considerations may, in at least some degree, 
relieve them : — 

In the first place, we must not be misled by the words 
of our version, " shewed Him openly," into supposing that 
the apostle in any way contradicts what he says, immedi- 

1 Bishop Wordsworth. 2 Acts i. 2, 3. 3 Acts x. 40, 41. 



A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 5 

ately afterwards, concerning selected witnesses ; all that the 
words in the original mean is that our Lord was distinctly 
seen by, made clearly visible to, those who saw Him. There 
is no reference at all to the number of beholders, but only 
to the clearness, distinctness, and freedom from any thing 
like obscurity, which characterized His appearance. 

Secondly, the number of witnesses selected was by no 
means small. St. Paul speaks of our Lord as having been 
seen "by more than five hundred brethren at once," ' many 
of whom were alive when he wrote. When this appearance 
took place, we are, of course, unable to say. The persons to 
whom it was granted are called brethren ; and this would 
indicate a personal knowledge of our Lord. The number is, 
at the same time, so great, that its testimony could scarcely 
be gainsaid ; and St. Paul's implied challenge, if it were no 
more than an unreal bravado, could be as easily met as it 
was plainly made. 

Thirdly, a selection of individuals, by whom the person of 
one who is to be identified is well known, must secure a 
more trustworthy identifying testimony than could be secured 
from a miscellaneous crowd, many of whom had never known 
him, others of whom had barely seen him, while only a few 
of all the number were really capable of testifying intelli- 
gently. " Public appearances could have added nothing to 
the testimony of the chosen witnesses. By diminishing the 
precision of the story, they might have diminished the efficacy 
of its proper evidence." 2 Under such circumstances, selec- 
tion, especially the selection of such competent witnesses as 
the Apostles and disciples were, is a guaranty of trustwor- 
thiness and correctness. 

4. The second purpose of our Lord's appearances was that 
He might give " commandments unto the apostles whom He 
had chosen." And this He did by "speaking of the things 
pertaining to the kingdom of God." Obviously the entire 

1 1 Cor. xv. 6. 

2 See Bishop Horsley's Four Discourses on the Evidences of the Resurrection. 



6 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 

meaning of these statements depends on the signification of 
the phrase, "the kingdom of God." 

We can scarcely fail to recall at once the fact, that when 
John Baptist began his preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 
his words were, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." Nor can we forget that when our Lord began His 
ministry, it was with the self-same words. 1 It will hardly 
be questioned that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom 
of God are identical terms. Teaching, moreover, about this 
kingdom, enters largely into the instruction given by our 
Lord in His parables. 

These exhibit to us the kingdom of God under two distinct 
aspects. It appears as an outward, visible, organic body, 
growing and spreading in the world ; and it is also a living 
power in human souls. The one view, we may say, looks at 
the kingdom objectively, the other subjectively. But to keep 
the balance true, neither should be omitted or neglected. 
The entire Church, as represented by St. Paul, is the temple 
of the Holy Ghost, its Vitalizer and Administrator ; and 
yet each individual Christian is also said to be a temple of 
the Holy Ghost. Anyhow, the kingdom of God is the Church 
of God, of which our Lord is the Head and King. 

Moreover, He became King of this kingdom and Head of 
this body in the Resurrection and Ascension ; and the king- 
dom was given to Him because of His voluntary humiliation 
and obedience. He "died and rose and revived that He 
might be Lord both of the dead and living," and God raised 
Him from the dead, "and gave Him to be Head over all 
things to the Church." 2 And the cause, so to speak, of this 
exaltation, was His humiliation and obedience. " He hum- 
bled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted 
Him and given Him a Name which is above every name." 3 

Just here, in order to avoid confusion, some necessary dis- 
tinctions must be kept in mind. There are two natures, the 

1 Matt. iii. i, 2, iv. 17. 2 Rom. xiv. 9 ; Eph. i. 22. 3 Phil. ii. 8, 9. 



A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 7 

divine and human, united in our Lord. He is perfect God, 
and He is perfect man. 

As God, the eternally begotten Son, the Word, the Second 
Person in the adorable Trinity, He is the Creator and -the 
Upholder of the creation. " By Him were all things created 
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisi- 
ble," even " the worlds ; " and again we are told, " All things 
were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing 
made that was made." l Moreover, what He has created 
He sustains; "by Him all things consist," and He is ever 
and always " upholding all things by the word of His power." 2 
In Him, therefore, as its Creator and Upholder, is vested 
"the supreme and universal dominion of the world." 

But, besides this dominion, inherent in our Lord's Divine 
nature, and connected with his Creatorship, there is another 
dominion which Holy Scripture tells us was given to Him. 
He was "made both Lord and Christ;" the Father "set 
Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places," and 
"gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church ;" and 
to Him are applied the words of the Psalmist, " Thou crown- 
edst Him with glory and honor, and didst set Him over the 
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection 
under His feet." 3 

This last, then, is the kingdom given Him because of His 
humiliation and obedience, and it is His mediatorial kingdom 
of which he said, "All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth." 4 Still it was not, as Bishop Pearson says, 
"actually given Him at once, but part while He lived on 
earth, part after His death and resurrection ; " the first gift 
enabling Him for His work, the second full and complete in 
its exaltation, power, and dominion. 

Moreover, this kingdom is partly, and under one aspect, 
economical, that is, it is ordained to carry out and complete 
a certain work, the work of redemption ; and when that work 

1 Col. i. 16 ; Heb. i. 2 ; John i. 3. 3 Acts ii. 36; Eph. i. 20, 22 ; Heb. ii. 7, 8. 

2 Col. i. 17 ; Heb. i. 3. * Matt, xxviii. 18. 



5 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 

is effected, that part of the power given to our Lord will end, 
that aspect of the kingdom will pass away. This is what 
St. Paul has in view when he says, "He must reign till He 
hath put all enemies under His feet;" and again, "When 
He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power," 
then He shall deliver up "the kingdom to God, even the 
Father," "that God may be all in all." ' 

But there is another aspect of this kingdom, in which it 
does not appear as economical, but as abiding and eternal. 
The immediate work of redemption may end, but the glorious 
issues of redemption abide ; and they still centre in the 
eternal King, and the unchanging Priest. This aspect of 
the kingdom is clearly brought out in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, where the Father speaking to the Son says, "Thy 
throne, O God, is for ever and ever." 2 It is of this aspect 
that the angel spoke to the Virgin Mary, when he said, " Of 
His kingdom there shall be no end." 3 This is the kingdom 
of glory, in which, after the Lord has judged the world in 
righteousness, and when "the kingdom of this world is 
become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, He 
shall reign for ever and ever." 4 

Our Lord, then, during the period in view, was teaching 
His apostles concerning this kingdom of which they were to 
be the heralds, and, under Him, the founders upon earth ; in- 
asmuch as it was " built upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner- 
stone." 5 So that we are quite warranted in saying that what 
they did, in preaching the Word and establishing the Church, 
was the outcome of the instructions and commandments 
which were, during this time, imparted to them. Nor should 
we here forget the promise touching the Holy Ghost, that He 
should teach them all things, and bring all things to their 
remembrance, which He, their Master, had said unto them. 6 
The record of their doings under these instructions is con- 

1 i Cor. xv. 24, 25, 28. 3 Luke i. 33. s Eph. ii. 20. 

2 Heb. i. 8. * Rev. xi. 15. 6 John xiv. 26; corhp. xvi. 13. 



A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 9 

tained in this Book of Acts, which is therefore the fountain 
and source of Christian history, — of the history of the Church 
of the Redeemer of mankind. 

These instructions, however, concerning the establishment 
and ordering of the kingdom, do not seem to have conveyed 
at once, to the eleven, an adequate and full conception of the 
character of this universal Church of God. The living power 
of the Holy Ghost seems to have been needful to accomplish 
this. The question, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore 
again the kingdom to Israel ? " besides the improper and 
prying curiosity which it exhibits, shows also that the Apos- 
tles were still influenced by carnal and Jewish notions con- 
cerning that kingdom. Our Lord rebukes each fault : the 
first, by telling that it was not theirs "to know the times 
and the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own 
power," that is, has kept in His own authoritative counsel ; 
the second, by bidding them look beyond Jerusalem and 
Judaea, " unto the uttermost part of the earth ; " for even so 
far was their witness to be borne, carrying the kingdom 
with it. Nor was it till they had been " baptized with the 
Holy Ghost," till the "promise of the Father" had been 
made good, till they had "received power" 1 after that the 
Holy Ghost had come upon them and guided them into the 
overwhelming truth, that they understood the true character 
of the kingdom. Then, not before, they ceased from narrow, 
carnal views, and, rising to the fulness of the Divine ideal, 
became the large-minded, large-hearted apostles of a world- 
wide faith and a universal Church. 

5. The section concludes with the account of the Ascen- 
sion. The Lord ascended both as a King and a Priest. As 
a King, "when He ascended up on high, He led captivity cap- 
tive, and gave gifts unto men." 2 As a Priest, "by His own 

1 Readers of the original will observe that the word " power " in ver. 8 is not the same 
word as in ver. 7, though our version does not make the difference apparent. In ver. 7, 
it is egovcria, that is, authority ; in ver. 8, it is Sv^a/ai?, that is, the living inspiration, 
strengthening and enabling, of the Spirit. 

2 Eph. iv. 8. 



10 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. 

blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained 
eternal redemption," and there "He ever liveth to make inter- 
cession " x for us. Thence, too, He is to come in like manner 
as He went away, "in the clouds of heaven," with "all the 
holy angels with Him." 2 This awful coming will be His 
final manifestation, " the Epiphany of the glory of the great 
God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." 3 

1 Heb. ix. 12, vii. 25. 2 Matt. xxvi. 64,xxv. 31 3 Tit. ii. 13. 



THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 



II 



SECTION II 

THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 
{Chap. i. ver. 12 to the end.) 



12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem 
from the mount called Olivet, which is from 
Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. 

13. And when they were come in, they 
went up into an upper room, where abode 
both Peter, and James, and John, and 
Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, 
and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, 
and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother 
of James. 

14. These all continued with one accord 
in prayer and supplication, with the women, 
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with 
his brethren. 

15. T[ And in those days Peter stood up 
in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the 
number of names together were about an 
hundred and twenty,) 

16. Men and brethren, this scripture 
must needs have been fulfilled, which the 
Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake 
before concerning Judas, which was guide 
to them that took Jesus. 

17. For he was numbered with us, and 
had obtained part of this ministry. 

18. Now this man purchased a field with 
the reward of iniquity ; and falling head- 
long, he burst asunder in the midst, and all 
his bowels gushed out. 



19. And it was known unto all the dwell- 
ers at Jerusalem ; insomuch as that field is 
called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, 
that is to say, The field of blood. 

20. For it is written in the book of 
Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and 
let no man dwell therein : and his bishoprick 
let another take. 

21. Wherefore of these men which have 
companied with us all the time that the 
Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 

22. Beginning from the baptism of John, 
unto that same day that he was taken up 
from us, must one be ordained to be a wit- 
ness with us of his resurrection. 

23. And they appointed two, Joseph 
called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, 
and Matthias. 

24. And they prayed, and said, Thou, 
Lord, which knowest the hearts of all 
meti, shew whether of these two thou hast 
chosen, 

25. That he may take part of this minis- 
try and apostleship, from which Judas by 
transgression fell, that he might go to his 
own place. 

26. And they gave forth their lots ; and 
the lot fell upon Matthias ; and he was 
numbered with the eleven apostles. 



i. The upper room to which the Apostles repaired, after 
returning to Jerusalem, is mentioned with a definiteness that 
indicates a marked and well-known place. Very possibly it 
may have been the "large upper room " where the Eucharist 
was instituted, and where, after the crucifixion, the disciples 
were accustomed to assemble. 1 It can hardly have been a 
room in the temple, though the Apostles evidently continued 

1 Mark xiv. 15 ; Luke xxii. 12 ; John xx. 19, 26. 



12 THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 

to go up to the temple at the hours of prayer. Wherever it 
was, it was the seed-plot of the Christian Church. 

2. In the catalogue of the eleven here given, the names of 
" Peter and James and John" head the list. These three 
are also conspicuous in the Gospels. They witnessed the 
Transfiguration "in the holy mount," and they were with 
the Lord in His agony in the garden. 1 After the descent of 
the Holy Spirit, Peter and John appear prominently in Jeru- 
salem and Samaria. Nothing especial is said of James till we 
are told that he was killed by Herod "with the sword." 

To St. Peter it was given to open the door to the Gentiles, 
that by his "mouth they might receive the word of the 
gospel and believe ; " 2 and this might lead us to regard 
him as the Apostle of the uncircumcision. That, however, 
was not so to be. St. Paul tells us. that " He who wrought 
effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, 
the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles." 3 Where- 
fore, St. Paul becomes the Apostle of the uncircumcision in 
the place of St. Peter; a position recognized by "James, 
Cephas, and John," who agree to go to the circumcision, 
while Paul and Barnabas are to go to the heathen. 4 It is 
noticeable, too, that St. Peter, thus relegated to the apostle- 
ship of the circumcision, is named after James of Jerusalem, 5 
and from the time of the Council of Jerusalem disappears 
from the history in the Book of Acts. All this is utterly 
irreconcilable with the theory of a divinely appointed 
supremacy over the Church, given by our Lord to St. Peter. 

St. John, in accordance with our Lord's prediction, 6 sur- 
vived the destruction of Jerusalem, and outlived all his 
brethren. We may say, I think, that St. Peter represents 
the Jewish element in the Church, and that aspect of the 
Church under which it appears as the completion and fulfil- 
ment of the Mosaic economy ; that St. Paul represents the 

1 Matt. xvii. ; 2 Pet. i. 18 ; Mark xiv. 33. 

2 Acts xv. 7. 3 Gal. ii. 8. * Gal. ii. 9. 

5 Gal. ii. 9. Not at all the James whom Herod slew. 6 John xxi. 22. 



THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 1 3 

Gentile element and that aspect of the Church in which it 
comes to us as the new creation for the Gentiles ; while St. 
John represents the fusion of these two elements and aspects, 
which, as they had " a common root in the full life of Christ, 
the Saviour of both Gentiles and Jews, so they grew together 
into the unity of the Catholic Church, the true Israel of 
God." 

Out of this great and impressive truth there has grown 
up the perverted notion of two opposing schools of doctrine 
in the Apostolic Church, which were reconciled in a third. 
But there were no such schools. The Faith was one. St. 
Paul is as clear on that point as St. Peter, and St. John as 
either of the other two. Nor is there any real opposition in 
these aspects of the Church, in themselves considered. Men 
might push them into opposition by pressing one into promi- 
nence to the exclusion of the other, and so, no doubt, those 
did at Corinth who said, on the one side, " I am of Peter," 
and on the other, "I am of Paul ; " 1 but there was no such 
opposition between the Apostles themselves, nor in the 
aspects of the Church which they represented. Any such 
opposition is simply imaginary. 

3. The great event of this brief period is the selection 
of Matthias to fill the vacancy occasioned by the treachery 
and death of Judas. The narrative is a very simple one. 
The Apostles and other disciples are together, doubtless in 
the "upper room." St. Peter, after urging the prophetic 
application of two passages in the Psalms to the case of 
Judas, declares that it is "necessary " that one who had been 
with them during our Lord's earthly ministry, and who had 
seen Him after He rose from the dead (even " from the bap- 
tism of John unto that same day that He was taken up"), 
should be added to the eleven "to be a witness of His resur- 
rection." Two persons are selected, and the choice between 
them is solemnly left to the ascended King and Head of the 
Church. His decision is invoked ; lots are given forth, and 

1 1 Cor. i. 12. 



14 THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 

" the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the 
eleven Apostles." 

Just how the lot was cast, we are not told. But there can 
be no doubt that our Lord's direct intervention was sought. 
The prayer offered is most certainly addressed to Him who 
is the "one Lord Jesus Christ." x He is invoked as knowing 
"the hearts of all men," and this is peculiarly insisted on 
in the Gospels as one of His special characteristics. 2 Again, 
He is asked which of the two He has "chosen;" and this 
word is the same which is used in ver. 2 of this chapter, 
where mention is made of "the Apostles whom He had 
chosen," and also by our Lord Himself when He said, "Ye 
have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." 3 Moreover, the 
term " Lord," as applied to Jesus Christ, is " the keynote to 
the history of the Acts of the Apostles." So that the first 
recorded prayer of the followers of Christ, after the Ascension, 
was addressed to Him, their Lord. 

An objection has of late years been made to regarding 
this transaction as a designation of Matthias to the aposto- 
late. It arises, no doubt, from the conviction that it is desir- 
able, if not essential, to the theory of ministerial parity, to 
limit the number of the Apostles strictly to twelve. In order 
to this, since St. Paul, to name no others, was undoubtedly 
an Apostle, it was considered necessary to exclude Matthias 
from being numbered with the eleven ; for his admission 
would carry with it the admission of an extended apostolate, 
and this extension would furnish an argument, or the basis 
of an argument, for the continuance of the apostolic office in 
the Church. Matthias, therefore, must be got rid of. 

The riddance was attempted on this wise. It was said 
that not until the Day of Pentecost did the Holy Spirit 
descend on the Apostles "to teach them ail things, and to 
bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever the Lord 
had said unto them ; " 4 that any act of theirs during the ten 

1 i Cor. viii. 6. 3 John xy. 16. 

2 Matt. ix. 4, xii. 25 ; Luke vi. 8 ; John ii. 24, 25. 4 John xiv. 26. 



THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 1 5 

days of waiting was the act of uninspired men ; and that 
the appointment of Matthias was only a precipitate, almost 
thoughtless, suggestion of St. Peter, — always hasty in word 
and deed, — accepted and acted on without deliberation, and 
therefore destitute of warrant or authority. 

But, surely, such a theory, or whatever it is to be called, 
can only be read into the narrative : it can never be deduced 
from it. Not only is there no intimation that the transac- 
tion was not accordant with the will of our Lord, but the 
impression is certainly left on the reader's mind that the final 
selection of Matthias was His own act ; while the solem- 
nity of the prayer which was offered to Him precludes the 
thought of haste and carelessness. Moreover, we are told 
that on the Day of Pentecost, St. Peter stood up " with the 
eleven ; " and later on, but long before the conversion of St. 
Paul, that "the twelve called the multitude of the disciples 
unto them." r Who are the eleven in the one case, or the 
twelve in the other, if Matthias is not to be reckoned as 
an Apostle ? 

But there is still more to be said. Granting that the act 
was not done under the direct guidance and inspiration of 
the Holy Spirit, the question immediately arises, Was it done 
simply at the individual instance of St. Peter, or is it to be 
regarded as due to instructions given by our Lord Himself ? 
We can only balance probabilities, since no definite infor- 
mation is given us. 

When one considers the strictness of the command to 
wait at Jerusalem for " the promise of the Father," a com- 
mand recorded by St. Luke not only in the Acts but also in 
his Gospel ; 2 and the fact that the Apostles were to be " en- 
dued with power from on high," to enable them to do what 
our Lord had appointed them to do, only when that promise 
was fulfilled in the descent of the Holy Spirit, — the great 
improbability of any action, unless under special direction, 
in the mean time, becomes apparent. When, therefore, St. 

1 Acts ii. 14, vL 2^ a Compare Luke xxiv. 49 with Acts i. 4. 



1 6 THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 

Peter says one must be designated to take the place of Judas, 
using a word [Set] which almost always in the Gospels and 
Acts indicates Divine appointment or ordering, does he not 
seem to be communicating a direction which he has received, 
rather than merely giving utterance to a conviction of his 
own mind ? And does not the ready acquiescence of the 
others in his proposition point in the same direction ? 

Besides, he very distinctly applies two prophecies, from as 
many Psalms, to Judas. 1 Granting that he was not speaking 
by inspiration, — for the reason given above, — is this a "pri- 
vate interpretation " of his own ? or had he been taught it, 
and if so, by whom ? St. Luke, in his Gospel, mentions two 
occurrences which seem to throw some light upon this query. 
He tells us that on the resurrection evening our Lord met 
two of His disciples walking towards Emmaus, and, " begin- 
ning at Moses and all the prophets, 'expounded unto them in 
all the scriptures the things concerning Himself ; " especially, 
as the context shows, the things relating to His sufferings 
and entrance into glory. 2 On the same evening, the two 
disciples having returned to Jerusalem and told what had 
occurred, the Lord appeared to the eleven and those who 
were with them, and, having " opened their understanding 
that they might understand the scriptures, said unto them, 
Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and 
to rise from the dead the third day." 3 

All this shows that our Lord, immediately after His resur- 
rection, expounded with great fulness, to the Apostles and 
others, the scriptures relating to His cross and passion, His 
death and burial. Is He likely to have done this without 
expounding those that related to the self-destroyed son for 
whom in His marvellous Eucharistic prayer He had uttered 
words of wailing, 4 declaring that his loss of himself had ful- 
filled the scriptures ? What scriptures had it fulfilled, 
except those quoted by St. Peter ? And if those scriptures 

1 Ps. lxix. 25, cix. 8. 3 Luke xxiv. 33-46. 

8 Luke xxiv. 26, 27. * John xvii. 12. 



THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 1 7 

were in His mind in that great prayer, would He be likely to 
leave them out of view in expounding the scriptures of His 
passion ? Is it not, under all the circumstances, altogether 
more probable that St. Peter's application of the two Psalms 
to Judas — and, if that, then also his proposition to fill the 
traitor's place — came from our Lord's teaching, than that it 
was a "private interpretation" of his own? All these con- 
siderations furnish, I think, a sufficient answer to a theory 
which has been thrust upon this passage, rather than deduced 
from it. 

4. We meet here (ver. 14) with the last mention in the 
sacred histories, of the Virgin Mother. Indeed, the reticence 
of Scripture, all along, concerning her who was to be called 
by all generations Blessed, is most noteworthy. May we 
not say that it seems to have been purposely so ordered, to 
leave as little ground, and therefore as little excuse, as possi- 
ble for the frightful perversions of later times ? How little 
we are told in the Gospels we are apt to forget until we 
search it out and put it by itself. We find such mention of 
the conception, the birth, and the early years of Jesus, as is 
necessary to set clearly out to us the Incarnation of our 
Lord, — the great fundamental fact that the Eternal Son 
" took man's nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, of 
her substance," so that in very truth she became the God- 
bearer [OeoroKos], because she bare in her womb, and bore 
into the world, Him who in His one person was God as well 
as man ; and we find no more. All that is told us is told 
because of our Lord, and not because of Mary. The end 
and purpose of all is the truth about Him, not information 
about her. This is the obvious law that shapes the Gospel 
narrative of His earlier years in their connection with His 
earthly mother. 

When we reach the story of the Lord's ministry, the scanty 
notices of His mother become more scanty still, almost to 
the extent of utter silence. We find her with Him at the 
marriage at Cana, where her interference, from whatever 



1 8 THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 

motive it may have proceeded, is gently rebuked in the 
words, "O woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour 
is not yet come." After that the silence is unbroken till 
His hour did come. Once when He was told that His 
mother and His brethren sought speech of Him, He replied, 
" Who is my mother, and who are my brethren ? " and then, 
pointing to His disciples, He said, "Behold my mother and 
my brethren ! for whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and 
mother." l Again, when one, overpowered by His words 
and works, exclaimed, " Blessed is the womb that bare thee, 
and the paps which thou hast sucked," He answered, " Yea, 
rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep 
it." 2 What do these words mean, unless they exhibit a 
higher spiritual relationship — higher because it is spiritual — 
between every Christian believer and his Lord and Master, 
than even that which subsisted between the Divine Son and 
His earthly mother ; a blessedness of every obedient child of 
God, greater even than that of her whom all generations 
were to call Blessed ? 

When the Lord's hour 3 came, — it was by that word that 
He was wont solemnly to designate His passion and death, 4 — 
His mother is seen again, but only for a moment ; and in that 
moment He commends her to the charge of the beloved 
disciple. 

How full of meaning are these utterances and these 
silences ! Enough is told to set before us, in its fulness, the 
divine mystery of the Incarnation, and to show us that not 
in His circumcision only, but in all His life before He entered 
on His ministry, our Lord became " obedient to the law for 
man." Then, when we reach that ministry, we learn how 
He lived on a plane whose earthly relations were merged 

1 Matt. xii. 46-50. 2 Luke xi. 27, 28. 3 John xix. 26, 27. 

* This remark applies especially to the Gospel of St. John. Compare with the ex- 
pression already quoted (recorded only by St. John), these passages in his Gospel : vii. 
30, viii. 20, xii. 23, 27, xiii. 1, xvii. 1 ; compare also vii. 6, 8, the word here being not wpa, 
hour, as in the other places referred to, but /caipos, time or season. 



THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. 19 

in higher spiritual ones. At last, in the supreme moment of 
His earthly life, the early relation to His mother is again 
recognized, but only that it may be transferred, with all its 
duties and its privileges, to the disciple whom Jesus loved. 

How exactly in accordance with this is the striking fact, 
that there is no record of any appearance of the risen Saviour 
to His mother ; no mention of her, indeed, after the resur- 
rection, except the incidental one in this passage ! Is not all 
this a prophetic protest against the falsehoods and perver- 
sions that man's pravity has heaped upon the name of her 
who by the Holy Ghost conceived in her womb, and bore into 
the world, the God-man Jesus Christ ? 



PART II. 
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



Part EE. 

(Chapter II. to ver. 42.) 
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



1. And when the day of Pentecost was 
fully come, they were all with one accord in 
one place. 

2. And suddenly there came a sound from 
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it 
filled all the house where they were sitting. 

3. And there appeared unto them cloven 
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each 
of them. 

4. And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem 
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under 
heaven. 

6. Now when this was noised abroad, the 
multitude came together, and were con- 
founded, because that every man heard 
them speak in his own language. 

7. And they were all amazed and mar- 
velled, saying one to another, Behold, are 
not all these which speak Galilaeans ? 

8. And how hear we every man in our own 
tongue, wherein we were born ? 

9. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, 
and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in 
Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and 
Asia, 

10. Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, 
and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, 
and strangers of Rome, Jews and prose- 
lytes, 

11. Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them 
speak in our tongues the wonderful works 
of God. 

12. And they were all amazed, and were 
in doubt, saying one to another, What 
rneaneth this ? 

13. Others mocking said, These men are 
full of new wine. 

14. Tf But Peter, standing up with the 



eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto 
them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that 
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto 
you, and hearken to my words : 

15. For these are not drunken, as ye sup* 
pose, seeing it is but the third hour of the 
day. 

16. But this is that which was spoken by 
the prophet Joel ; 

17. And it shall come to pass in the last 
days, saith God, I will pour out of my 
Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and 
your daughters shall prophesy, and your 
young men shall see visions, and your old 
men shall dream dreams : 

18. And on my servants and on my hand- 
maidens I will pour out in those days of my 
Spirit ; and they shall prophesy : 

19. And I will shew wonders in heaven 
above, and signs in the earth beneath ; 
blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke : 

20. The sun shall be turned into dark- 
ness, and the moon into blood, before that 
great and notable day of the Lord come : 

21. And it shall come to pass, that who- 
soever shall call on the name of the Lord 
shall be saved. 

22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; 
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God 
among you by miracles and wonders and 
signs, which God did by him in the midst 
of you, as ye yourselves also know : 

23. Him, being delivered by the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, 
ye have taken, and by wicked hands have 
crucified and slain : 

24. Whom God hath raised up, having 
loosed the pains of death : because it was 
not possible that he should be holden of it. 

25. For David speaketh concerning him, 
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, 

23 



24 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



for he is on my right hand, that I should 
not be moved : 

26. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and 
my tongue was glad ; moreover also my 
flesh shall rest in hope : 

27. Because thou wilt not leave my soul 
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy 
One to see corruption. 

28. Thou hast made known to me the 
ways of life ; thou shaft make me full of joy 
with thy countenance. 

29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak 
unto you of the patriarch David, that he is 
both dead and buried, and his sepulchre 
is with us unto this day. 

30. Therefore being a prophet, and know- 
ing that God had sworn with an oath to him, 
that of the fruit of his loins, according to 
the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on 
his throne ; 

31. He seeing this before spake of the 
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not 
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corrup- 
tion. 

32. This Jesus hath God raised up, 
whereof we all are witnesses. 

33. Therefore being by the right hand of 
God exalted, and having received of the 
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 
hath shed forth this, which ye now see and 
hear. 



34. For David is not ascended into the 
heavens : but he saith himself, The Lord 
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right 
hand, 

35. Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 

36. Therefore let all the house of Israel 
know assuredly, that God hath made that 
same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both 
Lord and Christ. 

37. Now when they heard this, they were 
pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter 
and to the rest of the apostles, Men and 
brethren, what shall we do ? 

38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, 
and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost. 

39. For the promise is unto you, and to 
your children, and to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God shall 
call. 

40. And with many other words did he 
testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves 
from this untoward generation. 

41. If Then they that gladly received his 
word were baptized: and the same day 
there were added unto them about three 
thousand souls. 



i. The first thing to be considered here is the time at 
which the great miracle of Pentecost occurred. Not that 
the day itself is not clearly fixed, but for other reasons which 
will appear as we proceed. 

The three great festivals of the Mosaic dispensation were 
the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, and Pentecost. It 
was a characteristic of all these seasons, that they were both 
commemorative and anticipatory. They looked back, but 
they looked forward also. 

The Passover commemorated the deliverance of the Israel- 
ites from the punishment which fell on Egypt when the 
death-angel smote its first-born ; and their deliverance, also, 
from the enslaving power of Egypt when they were taken 
from the land of their bondage. It looked forward to the 
time when the spiritual Israel, the true seed of Abraham, 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 2$ 

should be freed from the punishment of sin and the power of 
sin by the death and resurrection of Him " who was deliv- 
ered for our offences, and was raised again for our justifica- 
tion." At this season, also, on the day following the Paschal 
Sabbath, " a sheaf of the harvest " was waved by the priest 
before the Lord. Thus was this great festival connected 
with the natural year, a characteristic not singular to itself, 
but marking, as we shall see, the two other festivals as 
well. We trace in this ritual act a commemorative, and with 
it an anticipatory, significancy. For while it constantly 
recalled, as a commemorative symbol, the sanctification of 
the first-born child of an Tsraelite, its meaning found its full 
expression only in that First-born of all creation, who, hav- 
ing died and risen again, became the "first-fruits of them 
that slept." l So the Jewish Passover carries itself over to, 
and is completed in, the Christian Easter. 

The Feast of Tabernacles is specially presented to us as 
a thanksgiving for the harvest. 2 In this regard it stands 
connected, on the one side, with the Passover, the Feast of 
Abib, the month of green ears, when the sheaf oi barley was 
offered before the Lord; and, — as we shall see, — on the 
other, with Pentecost, when the first loaves of the year were 
waved before the altar. 3 But, besides this, this festival 
carried the Israelites back, by its booths of green branches 
and boughs, to their dwelling in booths after their deliver- 
ance from Egypt. 4 It also commemorated — it could not 
fail to do so — the tabernacling of God with His people "in 
the wilderness," when 

" By day, along the astonished lands, 
The cloudy pillar glided slow: 
By night, Arabia's crimsoned sands 
Returned the fiery column's glow." 

Surely, therefore, it looked on to a greater and more awful 
presence of God among men, even to that day when " the 

1 Lev. xxiii. 10, n ; Exod. xiii. 2, 4; i Cor. xv. 20. 3 Lev. xxiii 10, 11, 17, 20. 

2 Lev. xxiii. 39, 40, 41. 4 Lev. xxiii. 42, 43. 



26 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled, ecr/o^wo-ev] among 
us, and we beheld His glory." ■ If Passover became Easter, 
did not Tabernacles become Christmas ? 

Pentecost (called also the feast of harvest, the feast of 
weeks, the day of first-fruits) 2 is specially connected with 
the Passover, in that the sheaf of the last-named festival is 
made complete in the two Pentecostal loaves. 3 It is also, as 
has been said, connected, as the Passover is, with the thanks- 
giving of the Feast of Tabernacles. Later on, the Jews 
called it " the concluding assembly," because it brought to 
its culmination the teaching of the Passover. How this cul- 
mination was reached, we may see by bringing together the 
Paschal sheaf and the Pentecostal loaves, which showed that 
" He who had delivered His people from Egypt, who had 
raised them from the condition of slaves to that of freemen 
in covenant with Himself, was the same that sustained them 
with bread from year to year." 4 

Moreover, as this day, the fiftieth after the Passover, was 
the day on which the Lord " made a covenant in Horeb " 
with His people, 5 and gave them the code of Sinai, this great 
festival commemorated the giving of the law. But if it com- 
memorated the ordering of the law of the old covenant, 
"written and graven in stones," it also looked on to the new 
covenant, of which God said to His true Israel, " I will put 
my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." 6 
And this covenant became a living institution, this promise 
was fulfilled, when "in fiery pomp " the Holy Spirit descended 
to be with the Church forever, "another Comforter." 7 With 
what a true insight Keble brings together the two thoughts 
we have been dwelling on ! 

" When God of old came down from heaven, 
In power and wrath He came : 
Before His feet the clouds were riven, 
Half darkness and half flame ; 

1 John i. 14. 2 Exod. xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22 ; Num. xxviii. 26 ; Deut. xvi. 10. 

3 Lev. xxiii. 17, 20. 4 The Rev. Samuel Clark, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

5 Deut. v. 2. 6 Jer. xxxi. 31-34 ; Hos. ii. 23 ; Zech. viii. 8 ; Heb. viii. 8, 9, 10. 
7 John xiv. 16. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 2J 

" Around the trembling mountain's base, 
The prostrate people lay; 
A day of wrath, and not of grace, 
A dim and dreadful day. 

" But when He came the second time, 
He came in power and love ; 
Softer than gale at morning prime, 
Hovered His Holy Dove. 

" The fires that rushed on Sinai down 
In sudden torrents dread, 
Now gently light a glorious crown 
On every sainted head." 

What wonder that the Jewish Pentecost was vitalized into 
the Christian Whitsunday ? What wonder that Easter and 
Whitsunday are the earliest annual festivals of the Christian 
Church ? In the former, the very Paschal first-fruits were 
presented before God. In the latter, the old Pentecostal 
loaves found their complete interpretation in the " one bread 
and one body/' into which, "by one Spirit, we are all 
baptized." * 

2. No definite information is given as to the place where 
the Pentecostal miracle occurred. Tradition makes it " the 
upper room." The fact that the miracle occurred at the 
" third hour," when the Apostles were accustomed to resort 
to the temple for prayer, would indicate that as the locality. 
The use of the word house [oikos] is not conclusive for either 
place ; for it might be used of the entire temple, 2 or for any 
one of the thirty cells which surrounded it, 3 as well as for a 
private habitation. 

In favor, then, of the upper room, we have the unvarying 
testimony of tradition, and the improbability — whatever it 
is to be counted at — that the Apostles would be likely to 
assemble in the temple. In favor of the temple, we have 
the facts, that the Apostles, whether together or not, were 

1 i Cor. x. 17, xii. 13. 3 Josephus, Antig., viii. 2, 3. 

2 Kings and Chronicles, passim. 



28 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

wont to resort thither at the hour mentioned ; that they do 
not appear just then to have been the subjects of any special 
animosity ; and that the apartments around the temple were 
open to all comers and goers. 

"The solemn inauguration of the Church of Christ " might 
well — we may venture to think — take place " in the sanc- 
tuary of the elder covenant." l 

3. As there are two opinions touching the place where the 
miracle was wrought, so there are two answers to the ques- 
tion, Who were the subjects of it ? Some confine the mirac- 
ulous action to the Apostles, others extend it to the whole 
body of the disciples. And a factitious importance has been 
given to the matter by its supposed bearing on questions 
relating to the Christian ministry. It has no such bearing 
or connection. If all the disciples were the subjects of the 
miracle, that would not disprove the existence of a divinely 
appointed ministry, "stewards of the mysteries of God." If 
only the twelve were the subjects of it, that would not touch 
the truth that all the members of the Church of God are 
intrusted with "a royal priesthood." 2 It is worse than 
foolish to drop one of two unquestionable truths, because of 
some merely imaginary discrepancy between them. It only 
increases the folly to attempt to connect them with questions 
of interpretation with which they are totally unconnected. 

The promise that they should be "baptized with the Holy 
Ghost," and should "receive power after that the Holy Ghost 
had come upon them," in which power they were to be wit- 
nesses to Christ, was certainly made to the apostles ; and 
this would seem to limit the miracle to them. On the other 
hand, we are told, "they were all with one accord in one 
place ; " and while this may be spoken only of the twelve, it 
seems more likely that it is designed to include all the dis- 
ciples. Again, in the account of the Ascension, the Apostles 
are called Galilaeans; and here the question is asked, "Are 
not all these which speak Galilaeans ? " Probably, however, 

1 Olshausen on Acts ii. 1. a 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 20, 

this expression ought not to be pressed in either direction. 
Nor is the question itself important, when once it is under- 
stood that it has no possible bearing on any theory concerning 
the constitution of the ministry, or its relations to the laity. 
4. Far more important than any considerations relating to 
place or persons, are those which involve the nature and 
effects of the miracle itself. All miracles appeal to the 
senses, and the testimony of the senses is the ground of 
their acceptance. Were the miracle of transubstantiation 
true, it would be the one exception to this universal law. 
First, then, there came "a sound from heaven, as of a mighty 
rushing wind," — not a wind, but a sound like one, — "and 
it filled the house." There seems to be here a symbol of 
the way in which the Holy Spirit was to fill the Spirit- 
bearing Church in all the world, " Their sound is gone out 
into all lands, and their words into the ends of the world ; " 
and also of the fulness of the outpouring of the Spirit, 
"which He shed on us abundantly." 1 Then came the 
separated "tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of 
them." The appearance as of fire fulfilled the prophecy 
of John Baptist, " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire." 2 The original Greek does not warrant the 
common idea that each tongue of fire was cleft. It only 
means that the tongues were parted off as from one common 
source ; while the expression " it sat," or rested, not only 
points, in its use of the singular number, 3 to the oneness of 
the source, the Holy Spirit, and intimates that the entire 
gift was received by each person, — a singulis in solidum, 
by each in completeness, to use Cyprian's words, — but also 
indicates permanency and continuance. "Thou art gone up 
on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts 
for men ; yea, even for thine enemies, that the Lord God 
might dwell among them." 

1 Psa. xix. 4 ; comp. Rom. x. 18 ; Tit. iii. 6. 2 Matt. iii. 11 ; Luke iii. 16. 

3 The word translated " cloven " is Siajuepi^dju.ei'ai. It suggests at once St. Paul's 
declaration, "There are diversities — Siaipeo-eis — of gifts, but the same Spirit." 



3<D THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Says Bishop Andrewes, speaking of the fitness of a " sol- 
emn, set, sensible, descending " of the Spirit : It was " meet 
that no less honor should be done to this law of Sion, than 
to that of Sinai, which was public and full of majesty; and 
so was this to be. Meet, that having once before been upon 
Christ the Head, it should be so once more on the Church 
too, the Body. It pleased Him to vouchsafe to grace the 
Church, His Queen, with a like solemn inauguration to that 
of His own, when the Holy Ghost descended on Him in 
likeness of a dove ; that she might, no less than He Himself, 
receive from heaven like solemn attestation. Lastly, meet 
it was that it should remain to the memory of all ages testi- 
fied, that a day there was, when, even apparently to sense, 
mankind was visited from on high, and that this wind here, 
and these tongues, came not for naught, at so high a feast, 
in so great an assembly." x 

Whatever may be said of the " kinds of tongues " spoken 
of by St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, or of 
our Lord's words, " They shall speak with new tongues," 2 
no one who reads the Book of Acts as a history can doubt 
that the persons of different nationalities and languages then 
present heard the Apostles speak, " every man in their own 
tongue wherein they were born ; " that is, those who spoke, 
spoke in the various languages represented. To suppose 
that the "miracle consisted in the multitude hearing in 
various languages that which the believers spoke in their 
native tongue ; " or that there was some unexplained " mag- 
netic relation between the speakers and hearers ; " or that 
the words mean " speaking with the tongue only, that is, 
inarticulately;" or that they who spoke did so "in unusual, 
enthusiastic, or poetical phraseology ; " or that they spoke in 
"an entirely new spiritual language," — is only to encumber 

1 First Sermon on the Sending of the Holy Ghost. Sermons, vol. iii. p. 116, new 
edition. The bishop, according to common usage in his time, by " apparently " means 
" evidently." 

2 i Cor. xii. 10, 28; Mark xvi. 17. The phenomenon in Corinthians is barbarously 
called Glosollaly 1 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 3 1 

it with endless difficulties. Such conjectures may (probably 
they were designed to) exhibit the ingenuity of those who 
make them ; beyond that, they accomplish nothing. 

The miracle is, so to speak, the correlative of that of Babel. 
There, in one tongue, was proposed a wonderful work for 
men : here, in manifold tongues, were declared the wonder- 
ful works of God. There the one tongue, broken into many, 
scattered men abroad : here the many tongues, uttering one 
truth, drew them together. Babel tells of human discords : 
Pentecost proclaims Divine unity. 

5. The coming of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, to estab- 
lish and abide with the Church even to the end, 1 fulfils the 
promise of our Lord, and is the solemn inauguration of the 
dispensation of the Spirit, — the final dispensation from God 
to man. This great truth needs to be well considered and 
understood, for on its comprehension depends a full under- 
standing of the true character of the new covenant in the 
blood of Jesus Christ. 

To guard at once against a misunderstanding which would 
be fatal, let it be said that the descent of the Holy Spirit on 
the Day of Pentecost does not at all imply that it had not 
before that wrought in men, both Jews and Gentiles. We 
are told, indeed, that the " Holy Ghost was not yet, because 
that Jesus was not yet glorified;" 2 and our Lord said, "If 
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." 3 
But on the other hand, we know that in the " old time . . . 
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost ; " 4 that David prayed, " Take not Thy Holy Spirit 

1 " In prayer for the assistance of the Holy Ghost, we should avoid expressions which 
ignore the great fact of Pentecost, when He was sent to earth, by our ascended Lord, to 
establish the Church and to abide with it forever. . . . We might as well pray for the 
creation of the universe, or the incarnation of Christ, as for the descent of the Holy Spirit 
in any sense that overlooks His indwelling in the Church, and all the true members 
thereof. 1 ' — Sprott, Worship and Offices of the Church of Scotland, p. 26. "Christ's 
errand being done, and He gone up on high, the Spirit this day visibly came down for 
Him, and in His name and stead, to take the charge, and to establish an order in the 
Church." — Andrewes, Sermon XV., On the Holy Ghost. 

2 John vii. 39. 3 John xvi. 7. * 2 Pet. i. 21. 



32 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

from me ; " x that Joshua was one " in whom was the 
Spirit ; " 2 and that, even before the deluge, God had said, 
" My Spirit shall not always strive with man." 3 Have we 
here a contradiction ? How are these apparently diverse 
passages to be reconciled ? 

The answer is not far to seek. To our Lord in His hu- 
manity the Holy Spirit was given "not by measure;" 4 so 
that He dwelt in the Man Christ Jesus, " not as in other 
men, divided severally according to the will of -God, but 
entirely, absolutely, without separation of office or distinc- 
tion of gift." fn like manner, in a fulness unknown before, 
the Spirit was to be sent first on the Apostles, then on the 
Church, to abide forever, with all powers and functions, per- 
sonal and administrative, in " diversities of gifts . . . differ- 
ences of administrations . . . diversities of operations." 

Here, then, lay the difference. It was not " that all the 
special influences by which holy men spake at any time as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; all the imperfect, yet 
hopeful, feeling after God, if haply they might find Him, 
among the heathen ; all the zeal of God which St. Paul 
acknowledges, even in the midst of error and blindness, 
among the Jews ; all the willingness and eagerness to receive 
the message of salvation, wh£n once it was preached, whether 
in Jews or Gentiles," 5 — it was not that all these things came 
from any other than the Holy Ghost. They did all come 
from Him. The presence of the Holy Ghost was even the 
crowning glory of unfallen man. 6 His restoration was a chief 
purpose of God's plan for man's redemption and salvation ; 7 
and that restoration came in its fulness, when, under the new 
covenant, the Holy Ghost was " shed on us abundantly." 
As Leo the Great says, "That the disciples on the day of 
Pentecost were filled with the Holy Ghost, was not the 
beginning of the gift, but the addition of abundance ; for patri- 

1 Ps. li. ii. 2 Num. xxvii. 18. 3 Gen. vi. 3. 4 John iii. 34. 

5 Moberly, Bampton Lectures, p. 40, second edition. 

6 Bishop Bull, State of Man before the Fall. 

7 Bishop Jolly, Baptismal Regeneration. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 33 

archs, and prophets, and priests, and all holy men that ever 
lived, were quickened by the sanctification of the Spirit." " 
Thus much we must have clearly in mind at the outset. 

Next, let us observe the full import of the statement just 
quoted, that the Holy Spirit was not given "by measure" 
to our Lord, when this expression is taken in connection 
with His words and works. His human nature received a 
twofold unction of the Holy Ghost. He was anointed first 
at His conception, when the angel said to the Virgin Mother, 
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee;" next at His 
baptism, when "the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily 
shape, like a dove, upon Him," after which He was "full of 
the Holy Ghost." 2 

In that fulness He preached, prophesied, and wrought 
His miracles, applying to Himself the prophecy of Isaiah, 
"The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me," and declaring 
that He casts out devils "by the Spirit of God." 3 Never 
till we grasp this truth, so mighty and overwhelming, shall 
we comprehend all that is meant in applying to our Lord 
the words of the Psalmist, " O God ! Thy God hath anointed 
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." 4 

Turning now to our Lord's words addressed to His Apos- 
tles on the last evening of His mortal life, we find Him 
saying, " I will not leave you comfortless [orphans] ; I will 
come to you. ... It is expedient for you that I go away ; 
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, 
but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." 5 The Lord's 
coming, then, of which He here speaks, cannot be His 
return to judgment, of which the angel said to the Apostles, 
" This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 

1 Serm. II, De Pentecoste. See also Canon Ashwell's Lectures on the Holy Catholic 
Church, p. 38. 

2 Luke iii. 22, iv. 1. 

3 Isa. lxi. 1, ff.; Luke iv. 17-21; Matt. xii. 28; comp. Luke xi. 20. St. Matthew 
says, " If I by the Spirit of God ; " St. Luke, " If I by the finger of God." This explains 
a line in the Veni Creator Spiritus, and the longer version of it in the Ordinal : Dextrce 
Dei tu digitus, " The finger of God's hand." 

4 Ps. xlv. 7 ; Heb. i. 9. 5 John xiv. 18, xv. 7. 



34 T HE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into 
heaven." Far from it. He returns not (as the heavens have 
received Him) "until the times of restitution of all things;" 1 
but, in and by the Holy Ghost whom He sends, whom the 
Father sends, to work in the Church the presence of the 
risen Lord, the resurrection life of His anointed Spirit- 
bearing humanity, which is thus to abide with the Church 
forever. 

Let us understand, however, that the Holy Spirit does not 
come to the Church to be a substitute for an absent Lord, 
to supply Christ's absence, but to bring His abiding pres- 
ence, the " unspeakable gift " 2 of God. So Christ Himself 
ordains His ministers, and yet the Holy Ghost makes them 
" overseers over the flock;" Christ is "in us the hope of 
glory," and yet we become "the temples of God" by the 
indwelling Spirit ; we are " members of His body, of His 
flesh, and of His bones," and yet " by one Spirit we are all 
baptized into one body." 3 As, in the natural world, God 
the Father created all things, and yet " all things were 
made " by the Son ; so in the realm of grace Christ is ever 
present, ever working, but it is by the Holy Ghost. Where- 
fore St. Paul in one place says that by our Lord Jesus 
Christ "we have access by faith into this grace wherein 
we stand ; " and in another place, that through Christ we 
" have access by one Spirit unto the Father." 4 

Says Richard Hooker, "They which belong to the mys- 
tical body of our Saviour Christ, and be in number as the 
stars of heaven, divided successively, by reason of their 
mortal condition, into many generations, are, notwithstand- 
ing, coupled every one to Christ their Head, and all unto 
every particular person among themselves, inasmuch as the 
same Spirit which anointed the blessed soul of our Saviour 
Christ doth so formalize, unite, and actuate His whole race, 

1 Acts iii. 21. 2 2 Cor. ix. 15. 

3 Acts xx. 28 ; Col. i. 27 ; 1 Cor. iii. 16 ; Eph. v. 30 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13* 

4 Rom. v. 1, 2 j Eph. ii. 18. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 35 

as if both He and they were so many limbs compacted into 
one body, by being quickened all with one and the same 
soul ; " and again, " We see . . . what communion Christ 
hath with His Church, how His Church, and every member 
thereof, is in Him by original derivation, and He personally 
in them by way of mystical association, wrought through the 
gift of the Holy Ghost. ... As for any mixture of the sub- 
stance of His flesh with ours, the participation which we have 
of Christ includeth no such kind of gross surmise." x 

Let these truths be well apprehended ; and, while all 
materialistic views of the sacraments will be excluded, we 
shall rise to the full meaning of those great words that tell 
us how the Church of the living God, the dispensation of 
the Holy Ghost, " is built upon the foundation of the apos- 
tles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 
corner-stone ; in whom all the building, fitly framed to- 
gether, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord ; in whom 
ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through 
the Spirit." 2 

6. It has been remarked, that the arrangement of the 
names of the tribes at this time represented in Jerusalem, 
"follows the order of the three principal dispersions of the 
Jews throughout the world. The earliest dispersion was 
that of the ten tribes in Media and Assyria, and of the two 
tribes in the neighborhood of Babylon, then subject to the 
Parthians, who are therefore placed first. The second was 
the dispersion of Jews in Asia Minor, the dwellers in Cap- 
padocia, etc., an offshoot from the Assyrian dispersion. 
The third was the Egyptian dispersion, planted by Ptolemy 
Lagus." 3 We cannot fail, also, to be reminded of the 
wonderful prophecy of Isaiah, which so nearly corresponds, 
though with a different arrangement, to the words of St. 
Luke: "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which 
shall stand for an ensign of the people ; to it shall the 

1 Eccl. Pol, Book V., c. lvi. §§ 11, 13. 2 Eph. ii. 20. 

3 Bishop Wordsworth. See also Pearson, Condones ad Clerum, IIL 



36 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious. And it shall 
come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand 
again, the second time, to recover the remnant of His 
people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, 
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from 
Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." x The Root of 
Jesse, the ensign for the nations, was now exalted to His 
seat of glory at the right hand of God ; and Isaiah's proph- 
ecy began to be fulfilled. But all prophecies, as Lord Bacon 
says, "being of the nature of their Author, with whom a 
thousand years are as one day, are not punctually fulfilled 
at once, but have springing and germinant accomplishment 
throughout many ages." 2 Wherefore we look for its entire 
fulfilment to that coming day of which St. Paul speaks, 
when, " the fulness of the Gentiles " having " come in . . . 
all Israel shall be saved." 3 

Asia here, and throughout the Acts, means Proconsular 
Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital, and which com- 
prised the south-western part of the peninsula of Asia 
Minor. It never means either the continent of Asia, or the 
entire of Asia Minor. 

The persons assembled from these various tribes in Jeru- 
salem are spoken of as "Jews and proselytes." The former 
were those who were Jews by birth, descendants of Abra- 
ham ; and these appear in this book under two designations, 
Hebrews and Hellenists ; usually in our version, Grecians. 4 
The Hebrews were those Jews who were pure Jews, " not 
necessarily of unmixed Jewish descent, nor necessarily resi- 
dent in Palestine, but rather distinguished by language, as 
speaking the Syro-Chaldaic, and using the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures." s The Hellenists were either Jews proper, who, living 

1 Isa. xi. 10, ii. 

2 Advancement of Learning. 

3 Rom. xi. 25, 26. 

4 In our version the word " Greeks " usually, not always, is applied to the Gentiles ; 
and the word " Grecians," to the Hellenists or Grsecising Jews, including the proselytes. 

5 Alford on Acts vi. i. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 37 

u in foreign countries, had adopted the prevalent form of the 
current Greek civilization, and with it the use of the com- 
mon Greek dialect," and who used the Septuagint version of 
the Scriptures ; or else, as included under the same name, 
proselytes. 1 

It is not a little difficult to reach satisfactory conclusions 
concerning the proselytes who are mentioned here. The 
subject has been greatly confused by "the technical distinc- 
tions and regulations of the later rabbins." It would seem, 
however, that at this period there were two classes of pros- 
elytes, — proselytes of righteousness, who were circumcised 
and also baptized ; and proselytes of the gate, who did not 
receive circumcision. 

The former were Jews in every thing except in descent, 
and would appear to have been more Jewish than the Jews, 
more pharisaical than the Pharisees (a phenomenon not alto- 
gether unusual in the case of converts), 2 and, if Justin 
Martyr may be believed, utterly inimical to the disciples of 
Christ. 

The latter, finding that the Apostles preached the same 
God in whom they already believed, rejected the legal cere- 
monies which they did not accept, and declared, with greater 
clearness and assurance, the eternal life to which they looked 
forward, would naturally be drawn towards the newly founded 
Church ; the rather, because in it they were received to equal 
place and privileges with all others, while by the Jews they 
were regarded as unclean, and admitted only to the Court of 
the Gentiles. 3 

7. St. Peter's sermon suggests some thoughts concerning 
the methods and characteristics of Apostolic preaching. 
Where a volume would hardly suffice for a full treatment of 
the subject, only some salient points can be touched. 

The first thing that strikes one, whether in the preaching 

1 Dr. Westcott in Smith's Diet, of the Bible. 

2 Matt, xxiii. 15. See also Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chap, exxii. 

3 Bishop Pearson, III. Concio ad Clerutn. 



38 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

of St. Peter or St. Paul, is the way in which they always 
present, at the outset, something held in common by them- 
selves and their hearers. It is hardly necessary to go into 
details. An inspection of the different discourses of these 
Apostles will sufficiently exhibit this characteristic, which 
is very much more than an illustration of the old rule of 
rhetoric, that a speaker must put himself into relations 
of sympathy with his hearers. 

It is grounded on two most important truths : the first, 
that Christianity is the completion of Judaism, the latter 
without the former being a meaningless episode in the his- 
tory of the race ; the second, that Christianity is equally the 
completion of natural religion, — that is, it is, to use Bishop 
Butler's phrase, "a republication of natural religion." 1 But 
this phrase, it must be remembered, only states one aspect 
of our holy religion. Christianity not only republishes the 
great truths and laws of natural religion ; it also carries 
them out from the meagreness of the letter to the fulness 
of the spirit, and in from the mere overt act to the desires 
and purposes of the heart. Nor is this all. Over and be- 
yond this, dealing with those relations and duties which 
inhere in and grow out of man's creation, it reveals truths 
which could in no other way be known ; it brings to every 
man a vital power, even the Holy Ghost, which he had not 
in himself, " animating, stimulating, and sanctifying indi- 
vidual souls ; " and this same Spirit also organizes " a society 
of men, not merely working in men as individuals, but, over 
and above that, animating a society, through the influence of 
which society the good which He worketh in individuals 
is brought out into a higher perfection than without social 
influences could be produced." 2 Indeed, membership in this 
society or body is the means of attaining, as it is " shed on 
us abundantly," the vitalizing and renewing power of the 

1 Analogy, Part II. chap. i. 

2 Ashwell, Lectures on the Holy Catholic Church ; Bishop Butler, ut suj>. ; Barry, 
The World's Witness to Christ. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 39 

Holy Ghost. These last-named topics will recur again and 
again, as we advance. Here it is enough to point out the 
way in which the faith and the Church of our Blessed Lord 
come in contact with Judaism and natural religion, so en- 
abling the Apostles to find some common ground on which 
to place themselves, in addressing either Jews or Gentiles. 1 

Secondly, if Apostolic preaching always begins from some- 
thing held in common by preacher and hearers, the discourse 
or teaching always ends with the risen Jesus and the resur- 
rection of the dead. A cursory inspection of the discourses 
and teaching recorded in the Acts will fully exhibit this 
characteristic, which has, indeed, been often remarked upon. 

The first and obvious reason for this insistance is, that, 
unless the resurrection of the Lord had really occurred, the 
Apostles were " false witnesses of God." They might, in 
such case, be simply deceivers, or they might be themselves 
deceived. Great, however, as the difference of result in 
regard to their own characters would be under the one or 
the other of these alternatives, there would be no difference 
of result so far as their hearers were concerned. The wit- 
ness, whether consciously or unconsciously on their part, 
would still be false witness. 

But there seems to be another and a deeper reason for 
this striking characteristic. When our Lord began His 
ministry, " He came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the 
kingdom of God ; " when He sent out His twelve apostles, 
" He sent them to preach the kingdom of God ; " when 
Philip preached in Samaria, following Apostolic example, 

1 The English Puritans, with their exaggerated notions of the condition of man 
after the fall, greatly ignored the light of reason and the duties and obligations of 
natural religion. Writing in 1656, John Evelyn says, "There was now nothing practical 
preached, or that pressed reformation of life, but high and speculative points and strains 
that few understood, which left people very ignorant and of no steady principles." As 
extremes beget extremes, this state of things probably produced a revulsion, and " gave 
rise to the excessive zeal for enforcing natural religion, and for mere moral preaching, to 
the exclusion of the distinguishing doctrines of Christ, and particularly the operation 
of the Holy Ghost " (Vicesimus Knox, Christian Philosophy ; sect. Hi.), which charac- 
terized a later period. 



40 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

he " preached the things concerning the kingdom of God ; " 
when St. Paul preached in the synagogue at Ephesus, he 
"disputed and persuaded the things concerning the kingdom 
of God;" when he bade adieu to the elders of Ephesus, he 
reminded them that he had gone among them, " preaching 
the kingdom of God ; " and, finally, for two years in Rome 
he "received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom 
of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord 
Jesus Christ." * These are only instances illustrating the 
point here made, namely, that the preaching of the gospel is 
the preaching of the kingdom of God. 

But, of course, this kingdom was not preached apart from 
the King ; rather, they who preached the kingdom preached 
it because of the King. The kingdom was a living body 
vitalized by the Holy Ghost ; but it was such a body only 
because of its risen Head and Lord, whom " God exalted with 
His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour," giving Him 
"to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His 
body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." 2 Therefore 
there was preached not merely a Saviour that once died upon 
the cross, making by his death forgiveness, sanctification, and 
salvation possible ; but a risen and living Lord and King, 
who by His resurrection and ascension, and the outpouring 
of the Spirit, made those possibilities actual gifts, in that one 
Body, into which, by one Spirit, we are all baptized. 3 Here 
we find the deepest and most underlying reason why the 
Apostolic preaching always culminated, so to speak, in the 
assertion of our Lord's resurrection. And, more than this, 
we learn how far they have departed from the Apostolic 
model who take men individually only to the cross, and leave 
them there with, it may be, nothing but an abstract doctrine 
of the atonement for the food of their souls, and do not take 
them to the light and life and glory of the risen Jesus at the 
right hand of God ; or, if they do take them thither, still 

1 Mark i. 14 ; Luke ix. 2 ; Acts viii. 12, xix. 8, xx. 25, xxviii. 31. 

2 Acts v. 31 ; Eph. i. 22, 23. 3 x Cor. xii. 13. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 4 1 

take them in their individual isolation and separation, with 
no efficient teaching as to that "body of Christ," in which — 
not out of it, and by ourselves — we are to come " unto a 
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ." " 

Thirdly, in the Apostolic preaching our Lord was never 
preached apart from His institutions and the means of grace. 
This follows, almost necessarily, from what has just been 
said concerning the preaching of the King and His kingdom ; 
but some further explanation may be desirable. 

The instruction given by Philip the deacon to the Ethi- 
opian eunuch sets this matter in a very clear light. 2 The 
evangelist, beginning at the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, 
" preached unto him Jesus." And yet the first outcome of 
this teaching was, that the eunuch asked that he might 
receive holy baptism. It is, therefore, utterly impossible 
that Philip should have "preached Jesus" after that fashion 
in which many, who value themselves for their spirituality, 
would preach Him now. This illustrative instance may 
suffice for the present, inasmuch as the topic must be referred 
to again. 

Fourthly, there was in Apostolic preaching no exclusion 
of teaching touching moral duties and obligations. We are 
told that Felix, the Roman procurator of Judaea, " sent for 
Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ." But we 
are also told, that, in preaching the faith in Christ, St. Paul 
"reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
come." 3 In these words are comprised the duties which 
man owes to himself, his fellow-men, and to God. They 
answer directly to St. Paul's words in his Epistle to Titus, 
bidding him to teach men, "that, denying ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly 
in this present world." 4 How often, in days far later than 
Apostolic times, has this sort of preaching been stigmatized 

1 Eph. iv. 7-17. 3 Acts xxiv. 24, 25. 

2 Acts viii. 27-35. * Tit. ii. 12. 



42 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

as cold, dead, un evangelical, and not in any sense the preach- 
ing of Christ ! 

Such were four prominent characteristics of the preaching 
that once won multitudes of men to Jesus. May it not be, 
and is it not worth some thought, that a recurrence to this 
teaching might meet men's wants to-day as it met them 
eighteen hundred years ago, and give to the preaching of 
to-day some of that power which characterized the witness 
that the apostles bore to Christ ? 

8. The result of St. Peter's preaching is next to be con- 
sidered ; and what first challenges attention is the answer of 
the apostle to the question, " Men and brethren, what shall 
we do ? " It brings together what God's Word joins together, 
and what, in God's plan for man's sanctification unto life, 
ought always to have been kept together (but what men 
have been perpetually separating and keeping asunder), — 
inward preparation of heart, and visible ordinance of God; 
the individual act, and the corporate life. "Repent, and be 
baptized, every one of you ; " such is the answer to the first 
question, after the descent of the Holy Ghost, touching the 
way of salvation. Of course faith, belief in what had been 
heard, is distinctly implied, we might say asserted, in what 
is immediately said of the glad reception of the Apostles' 
teaching. And this is exactly in accord with what we are 
taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews, concerning " the prin- 
ciples of the doctrine of Christ," — the " foundation " of the 
Christian life, — in the words, "repentance from dead works, 
and faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms." The Apos- 
tolic practice, of which we have here a very striking instance, 
explains the statements of the Epistle ; the statements of the 
Epistle present a summary of the Apostolic practice. And 
the result is a view of the foundations of the Christian life 
and experience, as unlike many present notions of spiritual 
religion as it is possible to conceive. 

In proceeding to the remainder of St. Peter's answer (for 
we have as yet considered only one of its three parts), cer- 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 43 

tain fundamental truths concerning man and his needs must 
not be forgotten. 

It has often been said that fallen man requires two things 
to restore him to what he was before the fall : first, deliv- 
erance from the punishment due to sin, by forgiveness ; sec- 
ondly, deliverance from the power and bondage of sin, in 
sanctification of life. These are the great gifts of God in the 
new covenant made in the blood of His only begotten Son. 
These cover all the needs and all the possibilities of human 
life. Together they make up that state of deadness to the 
law, of which St. Paul speaks in such wonderful words. 1 For 
he is not " dead to the law," in the Apostle's meaning, who 
is "dead in trespasses and sins," nor yet he who sets aside 
God's law as a bondage from which we are released by the 
Spirit ; but he, and only he, who by habitual obedience in 
the grace of the Spirit has so taken into himself the law of 
God that he has transmuted law into life, — the life which 
"Christ liveth in him," 2 — and lives it without remembrance 
or thought of life, even as he lives the physical life of the 
body under and by a law of which he never thinks. In times 
not long past, the first of these deliverances was insisted on 
and pressed as if it were the one only promise of the new 
covenant, while the second was neglected and passed by, or 
sometimes perverted into practical antinomianism, that is, 
into a denial of the binding obligation, under a dispensation 
of grace, of the moral law of God. At present, in the revul- 
sion from this imperfect and erroneous teaching, there is a 
tendency, while taking juster views of the second deliver- 
ance, to ignore the first, and so to be carried off into inade- 
quate ideas of sin and of man's need of forgiveness. The 
remedy for either difficulty must, obviously, be found in 
holding both truths together, and not in dropping now one 
and then the other. 

If we look more carefully at the deliverance from the 
power and bondage of sin, which man's necessities require, 

1 Rom. vii. 4, 5, 6. 2 Gal. ii. 20. 



44 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

we shall find that two things seem needful to give it com- 
pleteness : first, a rule for living (which will be more complete 
if it shall be embodied in an example), and secondly a living 
power of action to make the rule and the example effec- 
tive to the individual soul. Thus, then, we find man's needs 
set before us in their full extent : provision for forgive- 
ness ; a rule of life embodied in a perfect example ; a living 
spiritual power enabling man to keep the rule and follow the 
example. All this our Lord announced clearly and solemnly 
when He said to Thomas, " I am the Way and the Truth 
and the Life." r As the Priest, He opened the way for man 
into the new covenant in His blood. As the Prophet, He 
taught the perfected law of life, and embodied it in the per- 
fect example of the human life of the God-man Himself. 
As the ascended King, He gave, and gives, the spiritual 
power without which man could never live the law or follow 
the example. To accomplish this, man was to be taken out 
of the sphere of his natural relations to God as his Creator, 
and lifted to a higher one, wherein he would come into new 
relations to the Redeemer and the Sanctifier ; to Him who 
has restored man through His humanity, and sanctifies him 
by dwelling in him by His Spirit ; who comes, as has been 
said before, " not to supply the absence, but to accomplish 
the presence," of the Son of God and Son of man, the 
second Adam. Into this new sphere of relation and gift, 
man is brought by holy baptism, which, as " the circum- 
cision made without hands," 2 places him within the new 
covenant, even as the circumcision made with hands placed 
the Israelite within the old. 

We can now bring intelligently together the first two of 
the three divisions of St. Peter's answer to the question, 
What shall we do ? The question itself, as we have seen, 
implies faith ; and the Apostle enjoins repentance, thus set- 
ting forth " repentance from dead works, and faith towards 
God." The next step is holy baptism : "Be baptized, every 

1 John xiv. 6. 2 Col. ii. n, 12. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 45 

one of you." Then follows the evangel, the promise of the 
new covenant, the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy 
Spirit. Thus, then, we find here, what everywhere in the 
New Testament underlies the ideal of a Christian life, — 
the transplanting of a soul from the sphere of the natural 
life into that of the supernatural ; the removal of it from 
its individual isolation, into the corporate union of the body 
of Christ ; its new birth from the world into the Church ; 
"the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 
Ghost." Is it necessary to say that all this may be made 
void and of none effect by the bars of impenitence and un- 
belief at the beginning, or by disbelief, disobedience, and 
unrepented sin afterwards ? 

There still remain for consideration the Apostle's con- 
cluding words, " For the promise is unto you, and to your 
children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
Lord our God shall call." Obviously he declares the union 
of Jews and Gentiles in the new election, or calling, from 
God. The old election was the Jewish nation, and all the 
circumcised were the elect. The new election is the Chris- 
tian Church, and all the baptized are the elect. Whether 
St. Peter yet knew, whether he knew before his vision at 
Joppa, that the Gentiles were to be called, and to come into 
the Church as Gentiles, and without being circumcised, may 
well be doubted, nor is it worth our while to inquire. 

The special question just here relates to the words "your 
children." Are we to understand them as signifying your 
descendants in coming generations, or your little ones ? The 
word " children " [re'/oW] settles nothing, for it may be used 
of either ; r and we are to look elsewhere for answer, if answer 
is to be made. 

Now, we must remember that St. Peter's reply to the 
question of those who had been "pricked in their heart" is 
not to be taken as if it stood alone and unconnected with 
any thing else, but as connected with the sermon which he 

1 See Acts xiii. 33. 



46 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

had just been preaching. In that discourse, he had dis- 
tinctly asserted that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was 
the Messiah, and, as Messiah, "by the right hand of God 
exalted" to the throne of David, 1 where he was to reign in 
an everlasting kingdom. There could surely be no question 
in the minds of those who heard the discourse, as to the 
continuance and permanency of the kingdom announced ; no 
doubt that it was to be from generation to generation. 

On the other hand, how natural would it be for the Apostle 
to tell them that the new covenant, like the old, was to 
embrace them and their little ones ! How entirely does it 
fall in with the fact that the circumcision of the old cove- 
nant passed over into the more highly gifted baptism of the 
new, to say to those anxious questioners that their little 
ones were to be the subjects of baptism, as they had been 
of circumcision ! If they were to be excluded, here was the 
place and time for excluding them. The absence of any 
distinct excluding declaration makes the inclusion of the 
little ones, in the word children, a moral certainty. Indeed, 
it may be doubted whether this interpretation would ever have 
been questioned, had not a modern sect been compelled by 
its chief article of faith, or rather of denial, to question it. 
Says Dean Alford, "We have a providential recognition 
of infant-baptism at the very founding of the Christian 
Church." 

9. The final result of the teaching given on the Day of 
Pentecost was the baptism of about " three thousand souls," 
and the establishment of the Christian Church. As con- 
stituted on that day, the Church consisted of the twelve 
Apostles and the three thousand baptized persons. This 
statement may seem to be a very simple one ; but when 
we examine it carefully and in detail, we shall find that it 
contains historical facts of the last importance. 

The Apostles held their place, and received their authority, 
directly from the Lord Himself. They did not choose Him, 

* Comp. Luke i. 32, 33. 



THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 47 

but he chose them. They were not designated by the 
Church, for they were appointed before the Christian Church 
came into being. The Lord chose them, made them, 
appointed them, sent them, gave them authority and com- 
mission to make disciples of all nations and to preach the 
Gospel to every creature, gave to them the words which 
the Father had given Him, appointed unto them a kingdom 
as the Father had appointed unto Him, and gave them com- 
mandments and directions concerning that kingdom. 1 Such 
are the words in which Holy Scripture sets forth their 
appointment, and they clearly exclude any human agency in 
accomplishing it. God, by His Son, set them first in the 
Church. 2 

The appointment of Matthias does not invalidate this 
statement, because it was not a selection by the one hundred 
and twenty, or even by the eleven, but a choice by the Lord 
Himself, as is proved by the words, "shew whether of these 
two thou hast chosen." 3 

At this point of time, however, all the powers of the 
Christian ministry are gathered up in the twelve. All that 
is contained in our Lord's commissions, wheresoever given ; 
all that St. Paul can mean when he says, " Let a man so 
account of us as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the 
mysteries of God," 4 or when he speaks of "ambassadors for 
Christ," 5 or when he says that apostles, prophets, evangel- 
ists, pastors, and teachers are all " given for the perfecting of 
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
body of Christ," 6 — all that is included in these or in any 
other words that speak of the Christian ministry, the Apos- 
tles had. They were the ministry. They held it all together, 

1 John xv. 16 ; Mark iii. 14, where our version reads " ordained," but the original is 
Z-n-oi-qcrr) — made ; Matt. x. 5, xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15; John xvii. 8; Luke xxii. 29; 
Acts i. 2, 3. 

2 1 Cor. xii. 28. 

3 Note the Greek e£eAe'£o> ; the same word which occurs in John xv. 16 and Acts i. 2, 
in connection with the twelve. 

* 1 Cor. iv. 1. 5 2 Cor. v. 20. 6 Eph. iv. 11, ff. 



48 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

and each held it in its totality. As men, they differed in 
character, in personal gifts, in various ways ; but in this 
aspect each held the grace of their common calling entire 
and complete. 1 

All this proves, beyond a question, that the ministry, ori- 
ginally derived upon and concentrated in the Apostles, was 
not an after-thought, or a development from the Church. On 
the contrary, it preceded the existence of the Church. 
On the morning of that Day of Pentecost, there was an 
apostolate, but the Christian Church was not yet. On the 
evening of that day, there was a Christian Church, consisting 
of a ministry and a people, a clericy and a laity, the Apostles 
and the three thousand. This division therefore is original 
and constitutive in the Church. And in the dry light of this 
historic fact, all theories like those of Congregationalism, 
touching the origin of the Church and the ministry, disappear. 
First the ministry in the Apostles, then the Church consti- 
tuted by their agency ; first the Church at Jerusalem, then 
the churches ramifying from it, — these are the things which 
the Book of Acts exhibits, and the order in which they come. 
To put the Church first, and next the ministry ; the churches 
first, and then the Church, — is as contrary to the teaching 
of the Scriptures as it is to the convictions of right reason 
and the truth of history. 

1 This fact is the basis of the famous Cyprianic statement : Episcopatus est unus, 
cujus a singulis hi solidum pars tenetur. 






PART III. 

THE MISSION TO THE JEWS, BEGINNING IN 

JERUSALEM AND EXTENDING TO 

JUDJEA AND SAMARIA. 



Part HHE. 
(Chapter II. ver. 42, to Chapter IX.) 

SECTION I. 

THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 
{Chap. it. ver. 42, to chap, iv.) 



42. And they continued stedfastly in the 
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in 
breaking of bread, and in prayers. 

43. And fear came upon every soul : and 
many wonders and signs were done by the 
apostles. 

44. And all that believed were together, 
and had all things common ; 

45. And sold their possessions and goods, 
and parted them to all men, as every man 
had need. 

46. And they, continuing daily with one 
accord in the temple, and breaking bread 
from house to house, did eat their meat with 
gladness and singleness of heart, 

47. Praising God, and having favour with 
all the people. And the Lord added to the 
church daily such as should be saved. 

1. Now Peter and John went up together 
into the temple at the hour of prayer, being 
the ninth hour. 

2. And a certain man lame from his moth- 
er's womb was carried, whom they laid daily 
at the gate of the temple which is called 
Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered 
into the temple ; 

3. Who seeing Peter and John about to 
go into the temple asked an alms. 

4. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him 
with John, said, Look on us. 

5. And he gave heed unto them, expect- 
ing to receive something of them. 

6. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have 
I none ; but such as I have give I thee : In 
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise 
up and walk. 

7. And he took him by the right hand, 



and lifted him up : and immediately his feet 
and ancle bones received strength. 

8. And he leaping up stood, and walked, 
and entered with them into the temple, 
walking, and leaping, and praising God. 

9. And all the people saw him walking 
and praising God : 

10. And they knew that it was he which sat 
for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple : 
and they were filled with wonder and 
amazement at that which had happened 
unto him. 

11. And as the lame man which was 
healed held Peter and John, all the people 
ran together unto them in the porch that is 
called Solomon's, greatly wondering. 

12. \ And when Peter saw it, he answered 
unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why 
marvel ye at this ? or why look ye so ear- 
nestly on us, as though by our own power 
or holiness we had made this man to 
walk? 

13. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, 
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath 
glorified his Son Jesus ; whom ye delivered 
up, and denied him in the presence of 
Pilate, when he was determined to let him 

go- 

14. But ye denied the Holy One and the 
Just, and desired a murderer to be granted 
unto you ; 

15. And killed the Prince of life, whom 
God hath raised from the dead; whereof 
we are witnesses. 

16. And his name through faith in his 
name hath made this man strong, whom ye 
see and know : yea, the faith which is by 



5 1 



52 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

him hath given him this perfect soundness unto you of your brethren, like unto me ; 
in the presence of you all. him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever 

17. And now, brethren, I wot that through he shall say unto you. 

ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 23. And it shall come to pass, that every 

18. But those things, which God before soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall 
had shewed by the mouth of all his proph- be destroyed from among the people. 

ets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so 24. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel 

fulfilled. and those that follow after, as many as have 

19. ^[Repent ye therefore, and be con- spoken, have likewise foretold of these 
verted, that your sins may be blotted out, days. 

when the times of refreshing shall come 25. Ye are the children of the prophets, 

from the presence of the Lord ; and of the covenant which God made with 

20. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in 
before was preached unto you : thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth 

21. Whom the heaven must receive until be blessed. 

the times of restitution of all things, which 26. Unto you first God, having raised up 

God hath spoken by the mouth of all his his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in 

holy prophets since the world began. turning away every one of you from his 

22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, iniquities. 
A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up 

I. We find ourselves, at this point of the history, in Jeru- 
salem, with the newly founded Church, its ministry, and 
people. It is in the world, and among men. It comes into 
contact with human life in all its varying conditions and 
environments. It is to act on men under those conditions. 
It is not an abstraction, but an institution embodying a living 
power and charged with a wonderful mission. It is to be God's 
appointed agent in carrying on to its final issues the work of 
man's redemption. It is to be God's family, into which men 
are to be adopted; His school, in which men are to be 
trained ; His hospital, in which they are to be cured of their 
manifold diseases. It is to embrace in its beneficent work 
all human needs, whether they are needs of body or of soul. 

Many persons, neglecting the obvious fact that the Church 
was sent into the world to do its work among and with the 
diversified conditions of humanity, have sought its origin in 
the pressure of those conditions on human life, and in men's 
attempts to meet the wants that were thus pushed to the 
surface. Because the Church immediately set herself to 
remedy a patent evil in the then existing conditions of soci- 
ety, — poverty, and the suffering consequent on poverty, — 
it has been imagined, that, under the pressure of this evil, 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 53 

men united themselves together in a sort of financial asso- 
ciation to relieve it, and that this was the origin of the 
Church of God ! It has even been urged, that the fashion, 
so prevalent at that time in the Roman Empire, of com- 
bining in associations for all sorts of purposes, suggested the 
supposed financial association. It is needless to say that this 
theory, and all others like it, put entirely to one side, on one 
or another pretence, the testimony of the Book of Acts and 
other scriptures of the New Testament, and substitute a 
priori possibilities and assumptions in place of historic facts. 
Their shallowness is equalled only by their disloyalty to 
truth. 

It will not serve to say, in reply, that such a theory does 
not deny the Divine origin of the Church because it is ad- 
mitted to be "Divine, just as the solar system is Divine," or, 
we may add, as every thing which God has created is Divine. 
This misses or evades the real point at issue. The question 
is not whether, putting to one side all the testimony and 
statements of the New Testament, the Church presents her- 
self as a " natural society " merely, " the natural outcome of 
natural causes," no more than "one of the guilds of the 
empire," working for good and beneficent ends. But it is 
whether, taking into account the testimony and statements 
of the New Testament, — which, it must be remembered, are 
contemporary evidence, — we can regard the Church of God 
as any thing but that which she has always regarded herself ; 
namely, a society directly constituted by Almighty God, 
endowed with the supernatural life of the Holy Ghost, and 
sent into the world to leaven the world, indeed, with a new 
life, but to do this by applying to individual souls the aton- 
ing and sanctifying virtue of the death and life — the death 
of the cross and the resurrection life — of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 1 

Now, one who receives the plain declarations — which 

1 Compare, to illustrate the different characters of the two views here brought out, 
Hatch's Bampton Lectures, 1880, and the Rev. C. Gore's The Church and the Ministry. 



54 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

require no more exegetical skill to interpret them than is 
required in interpreting an historical statement of Justin 
Martyr or Eusebius — (i) that the Church is the body of 
Christ, (2) that the Almighty Father gave our Lord to be 
the Head of this body, and (3) that this Head and Lord 
" gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangel- 
ists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of 
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
body of Christ," * can accept no theory concerning the origin 
and constitution of the Church, which questions, directly or 
by implication, the fact that they are supernatural and 
Divine. 

2. The first description which is given us of the newly 
established Church is a very comprehensive one, though it 
is contained in a few words. Its members, the baptized, 
" continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellow- 
ship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." We cannot 
suppose that these things were characteristics of the life of 
believers only for the moment, and do not, rather, bring 
before us what was to be abiding and continuous. In the 
concentrated life of a small community, such as the Church 
then was, in the first freshness of a new faith acting on the 
life, any characteristics are likely to stand out with a definite- 
ness and prominence that will become less distinct as the 
community spreads in space, and lives in time, becomes less 
obviously one community, and loses, it may be, in the "active 
habit" some of the earliest "passive emotion," or even 
leaves its "first love," and "waxes cold." That the four 
characteristics named above, therefore, appear more dis- 
tinctly in the period of the Church's life now under consid- 
eration, neither proves them to be only temporary, nor makes 
the study of them unimportant. 

First, then, we hear of the apostles' teaching, or doctrine, 
being steadfastly adhered to. Without insisting too strongly 
on the phrase "the doctrine," it is still evident that this 

1 Eph. i. 22, 23, iv. 11, 12. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 55 

implies something more definite than any mere general impres- 
sion or ideas, such as one gets from sermons or lectures, or 
any thing of the sort. And this becomes more evident when 
we take into account the way in which this teaching is 
spoken of in the Epistles, especially in the pastoral Epistles 
of St. Paul. 

If we look carefully over the Epistles and the Revelation, 
we shall find that St. Paul, writing to Timothy, alleges as one 
chief ground of comfort, in view of his approaching martyr- 
dom, that he has "kept the faith," and exhorts Timothy to 
hold fast " the faith ; " that St. Jude exhorts all Christians to 
"contend earnestly for the faith ;" that the Lord commends 
the angel of Pergamos because he has " not denied my faith," 
and makes a promise to the angel of Philadelphia, because 
he has "kept my word." ■ Elsewhere, we shall find St. Paul 
speaking of " the doctrine " and the " good confession " which 
Timothy had "confessed before many witnesses." 2 Again, 
we find him in another place calling this "the deposit," and 
"the good deposit," which Timothy is to "keep" or watch. 3 
Especially shall we be struck with the passage in which 
St. Paul calls on Timothy to " hold fast the form of sound 
words," 4 remembering that the principal word in the exhor- 
tation [vTroTv-n-axTLv], translated "form" in our version, can only 
mean a pattern, mould, or archetype. In entire accordance 
with this striking expression, having evidently the same idea 
in mind, we shall find St. Paul commending the Roman 
Christians in these words : " Ye have obeyed from the heart 
that mould of teaching into which ye were delivered." 5 
The figure implies a matrix, or mould, into which the belief 
of the Roman Christians was cast, and by which their belief 
was shaped and formed. And, finally, turning once more to 
the instructions to Timothy, we shall find St. Paul commanding 
him "to commit" this faith, doctrine, deposit, form of sound 



1 2 Tim. iv. 7; 1 Tim. i. 19; Jude 3 ; Rev. ii. 13, iii. 8, 10. 

2 1 Tim. iv. 13, 16, vi. 12. 4 2 Tim. i. 13. 

3 1 Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 14. 5 Rom. vi. 17. Our version is very defective here. 



56 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

words, mould of doctrine, to "faithful men who should be 
able to teach others." l All this assuredly looks towards a 
definite summary of the faith, something of the nature of 
a creed, rather than away from it. 

This view is confirmed by the fact that early writers speak 
of such a summary as having come from the Apostles them- 
selves. Thus Irenasus says, "The Church, though dispersed 
throughout the world, even to the ends of the earth, has 
received from the Apostles and their disciples this faith ; " 
and then he proceeds to give a formula which marvellously 
resembles the Apostles' Creed as we term it. 2 The same 
writer also speaks "of the unalterable rule of faith which 
each received in baptism." 3 Tertullian also mentions the 
"rule of faith," and, giving it in almost the words of 
Irenaeus, says further that it came from the Apostles, and 
is questioned by no one but heretics. . He also calls it the 
"rule of the sacrament of baptism." 4 These witnesses, 
the one representing the East as well as Gaul, and the other 
representing Africa, show how pervasive this view was. It 
can scarcely be doubted that it was universal. 

If we proceed to inquire into the probable form of this 
summary, or whatever we may choose to call it, we naturally, 
almost necessarily, are led to the baptismal formula, "the 
Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
Into this Name persons were to be baptized, and also dis- 
cipled ; and discipling into a name must, surely, imply belief 
in the doctrine which the name carries with it. It has been 
well said, that " the idea of the ' Name ' has a far deeper 
significance in Biblical language than in our own." The 
writer here quoted adds that the "Divine names in the 
Bible give in a broad outline the course of revelation." 5 

1 2 Tim. ii. 2. 

2 Against Heresies, Book I. c. x. i. The entire chapter is well worth a careful 
reading. 

3 Ut sup., Book I. c. ix. 4. 

4 On Prescription against Heretics, xiii. See note C. on p. 462 of Tertullian, vol. L 
in Library of the Fathers, and also note P., p. 496. 

5 Westcott : The Epistles of St. John, p. 232. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 57 

First, the names El and EloJiim reveal the Creator. Then 
the names Adonai and El Shaddai declare the " sovereign 
might cf God for the fulfilment of His counsel." Then, again, 
the name yehovah reveals the covenant God, who keeps and 
fulfils His promises. And, lastly, the last and complete reve- 
lation is given in the name Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
which declares that the " God who had revealed Himself as 
One, was henceforth to be known as not less One, but in 
some mysterious manner Three." x In this formula, then, 
is revealed the Catholic faith ; for " the Catholic faith is 
this, that we worship One God in Trinity, and Trinity in 
Unity." 

Further confirmation may be found in the fact, easily 
ascertained by an inspection of the old historic creeds, that 
all really catholic symbols are readily arranged under the 
three Names of the baptismal formula. 

The second characteristic of the early Apostolic Church 
is that its members continued steadfast "in the fellowship of 
the Apostles." There is some difficulty both in translating 
and interpreting this word "fellowship." But the simplest 
explanation would seem to be the best. They who received 
the doctrine of the Apostles, and were baptized, were thereby 
incorporated into a fellowship or society, the sacred minis- 
trations in which were rendered either by, or under authority 
from, the Apostles, and which, therefore, might well be called 
the Apostles' fellowship. 

The third note or mark of the Apostolic Church was 
steadfast continuance in the "breaking of bread." It is not 
worth while to waste time in asking whether the direct 
reference of these words is to the Holy Communion or to 
the agape or love-feast, which, later on, we find connected 
with it. In the first place, it can never be proved that the 
love-feasts had come into existence at this early period ; 
and in the next place, even were their existence proved, 

1 Moberly, Great Forty Days, Discourse IV. Compare Westcott, ut sup., and 
Pearson, On the Creed, Art. ii. 



58 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

since, by the confession of their most strenuous advocates, 
they were inseparably connected with the Holy Communion, 
and never held apart from it, the question becomes simply 
one of the curiosities of interpretation, an exegetical puzzle 
and nothing more. At all events, a grammatical possibility 
can hardly be allowed to supersede all moral probabilities 
and all historical testimony. Be the direct reference what 
it may, we are led up finally to the Eucharist. 

Fourthly, These first Christians were steadfast in "the 
prayers." That they were in the habit of going up to 
the temple at the hours of prayer, is plain enough ; while 
even those who wish to reduce every thing named here to 
a minimum, are still willing to admit that we "need not 
altogether exclude prayer among themselves;" a condescen- 
sion of admission for which we are bound to be duly grateful. 
How could the Eucharist have been administered, " the cup 
of blessing" blessed, the Amen uttered at the giving of 
thanks, without worship, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving ? 
Was baptism likely to be administered without prayer ? 
Were they to whom their Master had taught the Lord's 
Prayer, likely to omit its use, or to forget to teach it to 
others ? Were they to whose united worship the Lord had 
made so glorious a promise, 1 likely to neglect the assembling 
of themselves together ? And are not the hints scattered 
through the Acts and the Epistles, confirmed as they are by 
the immemorial usage of the Church, more to the purpose 
than all the guesses of those who seem to think themselves 
nothing if they do not differ from everybody else, and espe- 
cially from the witness of the Church of God ? 

We may sum up these four characteristics of the early 
Apostolic Church in the words of Bishop Pearson : " We 
have presented to us the form and image of the Church as 
it was gathered, constituted, and governed by the Apostles. 
Admitted to the Church by baptism, they frequented the 
public assemblies, sedulously attended to the doctrine of 

1 Matt, xviii. 19, 20. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 59 

the Apostles who taught them the way of God more per- 
fectly, partook of the Eucharist, and worshipped God in 
public and common prayers, thus giving an example to all 
churches to the end of the world." * 

3. The next record made of the Church in the freshness 
of its early life speaks of "the wonders and signs done by 
the apostles." And this leads on to some thoughts concern- 
ing, first, the miracles of our Lord, and, next, those wrought 
by His Apostles and others. Now, there are in the New 
Testament three words which are specially used of what 
we call generically miracles, namely, " wonders," "powers," 
and " signs ; " 2 and these words present to us three dif- 
ferent aspects, so to speak, of a miracle. The appellation 
"wonder" recalls to us the act itself, and the impression 
it produces on one who witnesses it. The word "power" 
brings before us the ability or force by which the act is 
accomplished. The name "sign" fixes our thoughts on the 
moral and spiritual teaching which comes out from the mir- 
acle. In every miracle of the New Testament, these three 
things meet. Each one is a wonderful act, wrought by 
superhuman power, and containing spiritual and moral teach- 
ing. This fact alone lifts them' quite above the level of all 
mere thaumaturgic tales and fables, and gives them at once 
a position entirely their own. 

When we look at our Lord's miracles under these three 
aspects, we are brought face to face with results that are 
well worth attentive consideration. 

The action — so to speak — of the miracles is always 
dignified, severe, free from any thing that is puerile or 
trivial ; and the impression produced on the beholder is 
entirely accordant. There is nothing in them like the 

1 Pearson, Minor Works, vol. i. p. 326. 

2 In the original, ripara, Swa^eis, o-rjfieta. The three words occur together in Acts 
ii. 22, and Heb. ii. 4 ; though SwdneLs is, in our version, unfortunately translated " mira- 
cles," and not "powers." They also are found in 2 Cor. xii. 12, where Svi/ajueis is trans- 
lated "mighty deeds ;" and, again, in 2 Thess. ii. 9. St. John often calls them simply 
u works." 



60 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

childish tricks and petulancies of the miracles of the Apoc- 
ryphal Gospels, 1 or the sometimes ludicrous pettiness of the 
wonders attributed in the Roman Church to the use of 
chaplets, scapularies, medals, chains of safety, and amulets. 2 
In like manner, the impression produced on those who 
witnessed them is always one of solemnity, and even awe. 
No one who beheld them ever questioned their reality, 
or seems to have thought of attributing them to any thing 
but to supernatural power. Those who received their attesta- 
tion saw in them "the finger of God." Those who rejected 
their attestation could only say, " He casteth out devils 
through the prince of the devils." 3 

When we consider our Lord's miracles as powers, we can 
hardly fail to be struck with two things : first, the authority 
by which He works ; and, secondly, the wide extent of the 
powers exhibited in action. 4 

In regard to the former of these, namely, the authority 
by which the miracles are wrought, we meet at once an 
apparent difficulty if not a contradiction. On the one hand 
our Lord says of Himself, "The Son can do nothing of 
Himself, but what He seeth the Father do ; " and again, 
speaking of His works, He says, " The works that I do in 
my Father's name, they bear witness of me." s On the 
other hand, He declares, that " whatsoever things He [the 
Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise ; " that " as 
the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even 
so the Son quickeneth whom He will ; " and that " as the 
Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son 
to have life in Himself." 6 Moreover, when He works a 
miracle, He speaks of no other than Himself. He speaks 
as He teaches, " with authority." It is an instance either of 
fearful presumption or of inherent power. 7 

1 See especially the Gospel of the Infancy. 

2 L Arsenal de la Devotion. 3 Matt. ix. 34. 

4 Persons versed in theology will recall the distinction between potestas and potentia, 

s John v. 19, x. 25. 6 John v. 19, 21, 26. 

7 See Trench, Notes on the Miracles of our Lord, Preliminary Essay, chap. iv. 1. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 6 1 

How is all this to be explained ? or are we to say that no 
explanation is possible ? To one who holds the Catholic doc- 
trine of the Trinity, the explanation ought readily to occur, 
and to present no difficulty. Whatever the Son of God is 
or has, He is or has from the Father. " There is but one 
fountain or principle of Deity, God the Father, who only is 
God of and from Himself, the Son and Holy Ghost deriving 
their Deity from Him," and yet " so derived from the fountain 
of the Deity as that they are not separated or separable from 
it, but do still exist in it, and are most intimately united to 
it." * As the life which the Son has in Himself, and by which 
He is God, is yet not of Himself, — in which case He would 
be a second and separate God, — but of the Father ; so, also, 
the power by which He works is in Himself, but of the 
Father. 

Read in the light of this great truth of our holy faith, the 
passages and facts above mentioned are harmonized, while 
the words of St. John, in the wonderful fifth chapter of his 
Gospel, meet and correct sundry errors. They teach " that 
Christ is the Son because He does nothing of Himself" (ver. 
19) ; that He is God, because whatever the Father does He 
does (ver. 19) ; that He is one with the Father, because all 
men must honor Him as they honor the Father (ver. 23) ; 
and that He is not the Father, because He is sent by the 
Father (ver. 37)." 2 

The words that principally concern us here are these : 
"What things soever he [the Father] doeth, these also doeth 
the Son likewise." They should be carefully examined. 
They do not assert that the Son does things similar to those 
done by the Father, but that He does the very same things 
which the Father does. They do not assert, or allow the 
assertion, that, though the Father and the Son do the same 
things, they yet do them in different ways ; for the word 

1 Bull, Doctrine of the Catholic Church, etc. Works, vol. ii. p. i. Oxf., 1846. 

2 The words are Hilary's. They are quoted in Catena Aurea, from his Treatise on 
the Trinity, Lib. VII. c. 21. 



62 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

" likewise," in our version, is not a mere extension of, or 
pleonastic addition to, the word " also." It has its own 
separate force, and expresses the way or manner in which 
the things are done. Our Lord, therefore, here claims for 
himself the powers of Omnipotence. 1 

Do His miracles bear out this claim ? A classification of 
those that are recorded — possibly suggesting the reason 
why the record contains just the selection of all the works 
"which Jesus did" that it presents to us — will answer that 
question affirmatively. It will then be seen that they exhibit 
power over inanimate things and irrational beings ; Over the 
forces of the natural world ; over men in their bodies and 
their souls, in life and after death ; and over the angelic hosts, 
unfallen or fallen. It will be further seen that under each of 
these divisions, powers of the most varied and wide-reaching 
character are exercised. For instance, and simply for pur- 
poses of illustration, — which is all that can be attempted 
here, — in the world of nature our Lord controls alike the 
productive and destructive forces ; in the case of the human 
body, there is no disease or trouble that he does not heal ; in 
the realm of death he raises persons from the dead at all- the 
stages of the progress of decay. Indeed, the more we study 
these wonderful phenomena, the more we shall be convinced 
that the powers which our Lord exercised are co-extensive 
with any ideas which we can form of the Divine Omnipotence. 

When from the miracles of our Lord we turn to those of 
the Apostles, recorded in the Acts, two differences, to name 
no more, are very apparent. In the first place, the Apostles 
not only make no claim of any authority inherent in them- 
selves, but they most carefully and anxiously repudiate such 
a claim. Our Lord says to the winds and waves, " Peace, be 
still;" to the widow's son, "Young man, I say unto thee, 
Arise ; " to the deaf ear and the dumb tongue, " Be opened ; " 

1 The two points here made, together with the conclusion from them, come out more 
clearly in the original than in our version. Augustine, De Trinitate, Lib. XX., treats the 
matter at length. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 63 

to the dead man in the sepulchre, "Lazarus, come forth." 
But the Apostles act, solely and ever, " in the name of Jesus 
Christ of Nazareth," and they disclaim any "power or holi- 
ness " of their own. 1 There are only two exceptions to this 
otherwise universal rule. When St. Peter raised Dorcas, he 
said to her, " Tabitha, arise ; " but he was then alone, no 
spectators were present, and there was no danger that he 
would be misunderstood, or supposed to be claiming anything 
for himself. 2 St. Paul also said to the cripple at Lystra, 
" Stand upright on thy feet ; " but when this was misunder- 
stood, and the people took him and Barnabas for gods, they 
made haste to correct the error by saying, " We also are 
men of like passions with you." 3 These exceptions only 
serve to make their rule of action more impressive. 

In the next place, we find the range of the powers exer- 
cised by the Apostles and others greatly circumscribed, as 
compared with that exhibited in the miracles of our Lord. 
St. Peter and St. Paul each work a miracle of resurrection and 
a miracle of punishment, and all the other miracles recorded 
are those of healing to the bodies or the souls of men. These 
two differences in regard to authority of action and range of 
operation are surely most striking and suggestive. 

It remains to say something of the third aspect of a mir- 
acle, expressed in the word "sign." In this regard, every 
miracle may be termed an acted parable ; that is, the outward 
act, by which the emotions of the spectator are aroused, and 
the power of the worker of the miracle is exhibited, contains 
a spiritual truth ; and this truth relates to some work of the 
Holy Ghost wrought in human souls, analogous to the physical 
work which the miracle presents to us. 

It is impossible, here, to go into full details. Two illus- 
trations must suffice. As our Lord healed "all manner of 
diseases " by which men's bodies are afflicted, so the Holy 
Spirit brings forgiveness and healing to all sins by which 
men's souls are burdened. As He raised to life human 

1 Acts iii. 6, 12. 2 Acts ix. 40. 3 Acts xiv. 8-16. 



64 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

bodies in different stages of decay, — the centurion's daugh- 
ter when the breath had just left her lips, the widow's son 
as he was borne to the sepulchre, Lazarus after his entomb- 
ment, — so the Holy Spirit raises human souls from all 
depths of sin into lives of righteousness. These miracles of 
grace, perpetually wrought in the Church of God, continue 
and bear witness to the miracles of the Gospels. Do they 
not, also, explain and fulfil our Lord's words, " He that 
believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and 
greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto 
my Father" ? J 

Says Augustine, speaking of the miracles of our Lord, 
" These things the Lord once did, that He might call men to 
belief. This faith now glows in the Church, spread abroad 
throughout the world. And now He works greater cures, for 
the sake of which He disdained not to work those lesser ones. 
For, as the soul is better than the body, so the health of the 
soul is greater than the health of the body. The blind flesh 
does not now open its eyes by a miracle of the Lord, but the 
blind soul doth open its eyes to the word of the Lord. The 
dead corpse does not now arise ; but the dead soul, which lay 
in a living corpse, does arise. The deaf ears of the body are 
not now opened, but how many have the close-shut ears of 
their hearts opened to the Word of God ! " 2 

This fact, namely, that any miracle contains under its out- 
ward reality a spiritual verity, explains the possibility of the 
theory that the miracles of the Gospel are only instructive 
" myths," and presents to us the half-truth which that dis- 
torted and imperfect theory takes up as the ground of its 
specious denials. 

Finally, from this inside view — if so one may call it — of 
our Lord's miracles, there comes out to us an argument, 
of no slight cogency, for the truthfulness and accuracy of the 
Evangelists who record them. What is the likelihood that a 
deliberate forger or a fanatical enthusiast could contrive, 

1 John xiv. 12. 2 Sermon lxxxviii. {alias xviii.) on Matt. xx. 30, sect. iii. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 65 

with conscious purpose to deceive on the one hand, or under 
strong delusion on the other, a series of miracles which 
should always be dignified and lofty, never puerile or belittling 
in their character and results ; which should bring to our 
view powers that in their aggregate are co-extensive with 
any ideas we can form of omnipotence ; and which should 
always carry with them symbolic teachings that have been 
visible in human lives for eighteen centuries ? Surely there 
can be but one answer to that question ; and that answer 
must lead us to the conclusion that the Evangelists were 
neither deceivers nor deceived, but that they honestly, and 
in good faith, recorded works done by Him " by whom were 
all things created, that are in heaven and in earth," and 
" who upholdeth all things by the word of His power." * 

4. "There were, in the ancient Church, some heretics, 
who, under pretence of greater heights in religion, would 
allow no men to possess any thing as their own right and 
property in this world, but obliged all men to renounce their 
title to every thing, and to have all things in common ; 
pronouncing a peremptory sentence against all rich men, that 
unless they gave up their possessions, and forsook all that 
they enjoyed, they could not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. These men called themselves Apotactici, from 
renouncing the world ; and Apostolici, from their pretended 
imitation of the Apostles ; and Encratitce, from their ostenta- 
tion of temperance and abstinence above all other men." 2 
The Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, and other fanatics 
since, have followed in the same track. 

These erorrists sustain their theories by the statement 
here made, that " all that believed were together, and had 
all things common ; and sold their possessions and goods, 
and parted them to all men as every man had need ;" and 
further on, that "as many as were possessors of lands or 
houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things 
that were sold, and laid them down at the Apostles' feet ; 

1 Col. i. 16; Heb. i. 3. 2 Bingham, Antiquities, etc., Book XVI. c. xii. § 1. 



66 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

and distribution was made unto every man according as he 
had need." * 

If we did not look beyond the words just quoted, and 
isolated them from every thing else in the New Testament, 
they might seem to warrant the conclusions drawn from them. 
But this method of exposition, though it unfailingly charac- 
terizes all known sects, is contrary to all right reason, and to 
the declarations of Scripture itself. It is perfectly clear from 
the words of St. Peter to Ananias, " Whiles it remained, was 
it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was it not in thine 
own power ? " 2 that, whatever gifts were made, they were 
entirely voluntary, and obligatory only so far as it is always 
a duty to minister to the wants of the poor. Besides, St. 
Paul's exhortation, " Charge them who are rich in this world 
. . . that they be ready to distribute, willing to communi- 
cate ; " St. James's denunciation of distinguishing between 
rich and poor in the assemblies of Christians ; St. John's 
warning, " Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion 
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? " 3 all 
show that there was inequality, and therefore not community, 
in their possessions, among the members of the Church in 
the days of the Apostles. 

There is a passage in the First Apology of Justin Martyr, 
and another in the Apology of Tertullian, which, taken by 
themselves, may seem to aEord some support to the theory 
of a community of goods in the early Church, but which, 
fairly examined, really give none. 

Justin Martyr in one place says, " We who valued above 
all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now 
bring what we have into a common stock, and communicate 
to every one in need." 4 But in another place, describing 
the weekly worship of the Christians, he explains himself as 
follows : " They who are well to do and willing, give what 

1 Acts ii. 44, 45, iv. 34, 35. 3 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18; Jas. ii. 1-4; 1 John iii. 17. 

2 Acts v. 4. * Aj>o/., I. xiv. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 67 

each thinks fit ; and what is collected is deposited with the 
president, who succors the orphans and widows, . . . and, in 
a word, takes care of all who are in need." ' 

So, too, Tertullian says, in even stronger words than those 
of Justin, " We, therefore, who are united in mind and soul, 
doubt not about having our possessions in common. With 
us all things are shared promiscuously, except our wives." 2 
But this statement is explained by what he has just before 
said : " Every man placeth there a small gift on one day in 
each month, or whenever he will, so he do but will, and so 
he be but able ; for no man is constrained, but contributeth 
willingly." 3 And he goes on to say that these deposits are 
disbursed for the poor and suffering. Clearly, neither Ter- 
tullian nor Justin had in mind any community of goods 
which was not consistent with inequalities of possessions 
and voluntary gifts, according to St. Paul's rule of individual 
ability. 

Abundant,* most abundant, almsgiving was the only such 
community known in the Church of Apostolic times. But 
abundant, most abundant, it assuredly was ; furnishing here- 
in an example to all coming ages. No man called his 
possessions his own. 4 Each held them, that is, as a steward- 
ship in trust, not for himself only, but for others also. And 
this, in a vastly higher way than could have been reached 
by any compulsory community of goods, made "all things 
common " among the believers, and lay at the root of their 
abounding ministrations. Such a conviction, indeed, must 
always lie at the root of all true almsgiving. He who holds 
all that he has simply as God's steward will, assuredly, so 
minister his stewardship as to fulfil the law of Christ in 
helping others to bear their burdens.5 

5. The new believers seem to have been in the habit of 
gathering together in the temple, probably at the third and 
ninth hours, the times of the morning and evening sacrifices. 

1 Apol., I. lxvii. 3 Apol., I. as before. s Gal. vi. 2. 

2 Apol., I. xxxix. 4 Acts iv. 32. 



68 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

" Although Moses did not, in the law, distinctly order 
prayers, nevertheless the pious Jews were in the habit 
of praying, especially at the hours of the offering of the 
sacrifices." The evening sacrifice was offered at the ninth 
hour, and with it the prayers at that time began. 1 The 
reason for going up to the temple at the ninth hour would 
equally apply to the third hour, so that these would appear 
to have been the hours when the believers met in the temple 
for daily prayer. Further on it will be necessary to say 
something of the way in which the Mosaic and Christian 
dispensations, so to speak, overlapped each other ; but that 
subject does not come into view here. 

6. The miracle of healing the lame man requires — after 
what has been said above — no special notice. But some 
things in St. Peter's address to the people ought not to be 
passed by. 

(a) The Apostle attributes the denial of the " Holy One 
and the Just," and the death of "the Prince of life," to the 
ignorance of the Jews and their rulers ; and then adds, " But 
those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of 
all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so ful- 
filled." These words carry us back at once to the wonder- 
ful prayer of our Lord on the cross, " Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." 2 

That this ignorance, whatever it may have been, did not 
nullify the responsibility or remove the sin of all the Jews 
and all their rulers, is clear from our Lord's words to the 
Pharisees, " If ye were blind, ye should have no sin : but 
now ye say, We see ; therefore your sin remaineth ; " and 
also to the Apostles, " If I had not come, and spoken unto 
them, they had not had sin ; but now they have no cloke for 
their sin. ... If I had not done among them the works 
which none other man did, they had not had sin." 3 No 
doubt the ignorance asserted applies in different degrees to 

1 Pearson, Minor Works, vol. i. p. 330. 

2 Luke xxiii. 34. 3 John ix. 41, xv. 22, 24. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 69 

different classes and individuals among the Jews. " It admits 
of all degrees, — from the unlearned, who were implicitly led 
by others, and hated Him because others did, up to the 
most learned of the scribes, who knew and rightly inter- 
preted the Messianic prophecies, but, from moral blindness 
or perverted expectations, did not recognize them in our 
Lord." ' Who were exempted from responsibility, and who 
were not exempted, under this plea of ignorance, is not for 
us to say. All are in the hands of a merciful Judge, whose 
judgments are always guided by perfect equity. There we 
may be well content to leave them. 

This question, however, touching ignorance as an excuse 
for wrong-doing, is a very practical one ; and probably its 
solution cannot be better stated than it has been stated by 
Bishop Sanderson, that prince among casuists. 2 "For our 
clearer understanding of which point, — viz., whether or no, 
or how far, ignorance and error may excuse or lessen sinful 
actions proceeding therefrom, in point of conscience, — let us 
first lay down one general, certain, and fundamental ground, 
whereupon, indeed, dependeth especially the resolution of 
almost all those difficulties that may occur in this and many 
other like questions. And that is this : It is a condition so 
essential to every sin, to be voluntary, that, all other circum- 
stances and respects laid aside, every sin is by so much 
greater or less by how much it is more or less voluntary. 
For, whereas there are in the reasonable soul three prime 
faculties from which all human actions flow, — the under- 
standing, the will, and the sensual appetite or affections, — 
all of these concur, indeed, to every action properly human ; 
yet so as the will carryeth the greatest sway, and is, there- 
fore, the justest measure of the moral goodness or badness 
thereof. In any of the three there may be a fault, all of 
them being depraved in the state of corrupt nature ; and the 

1 Dean Alford, on the passage. 

2 Charles I. was wont to say, " I carry my ears to hear other preachers, but I carry 
my conscience to hear Mr. Sanderson." 



JO EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

truth is, there is in every sin, every complete sin, a fault in 
every of the three. And, therefore, all sins, by reason of 
the blindness of the understanding, may be called igno- 
rances ; and by reason of the impotency of the affections, 
infirmities ; and by reason of the perverseness of the will, 
rebellions. But, for the most part, it falleth out so that, 
although all the three be faulty, yet the obliquity of the 
sinful action springeth most immediately and chiefly from 
the special fault of one or other of the three. If the main 
defect be in the understanding, not apprehending the good 
it should, or not aright, the sin arising from such defect we 
call more properly a sin of ignorance. If the main defect 
be in the affections, some passion blinding or corrupting the 
judgment, the sin arising from such defect we call a sin of 
infirmity. If the main defect be in the will, with perverse 
resolution bent upon any evil, the sin arising from such 
wilfulness we call a rebellion, or a sin of presumption. And 
certainly these sins of presumption are the greatest of the 
three, because the wilfullest ; and those of ignorance the 
least, because there is in them the least disorder of the will, 
which doth its office, in some measure, in following the 
guidance of the understanding : the greater fault being, 
rather, in the understanding for misguiding it. And of sins 
of ignorance, compared one with another, that is ever the 
least wherein the defect is greater in the understanding, and 
in the will less." l 

From these clearly worked-out premises, the bishop draws 
two "material conclusions, — the one, that error and igno- 
rance doth not always and wholly excuse from sin ; the other, 
that some kind of ignorance and error doth excuse from sin, 
sometimes wholly, but very often at least in part." 

(b) We have next to consider the important passage con- 
tained in vv. 19, 20, and 21 of this third chapter. The first 
thing to be noted is the inadequacy of our version, where 

1 Bishop Sanderson, Sermon VI., Ad Populum. Montgomery's ed., vol. i. pp. 502, 
5°3- 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 7 1 

it reads, " Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your 
sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall 
come from the presence of the Lord." The correct render- 
ing would be, " in order that seasons of refreshing may come," 
etc. By these words the Apostle declares that the coming 
of the " seasons of refreshing" and, also, the "times of res- 
titution," or restoration "of all things," have been made "to 
depend on the repentance of the Jews, and their reception of 
the gospel." 

One must tread warily, and speak "with bated breath," 
when he enters the field of unfulfilled prophecy. But we 
can hardly go astray if we take into our thoughts, just here, 
St. Paul's words where he says, " that blindness in part has 
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be 
come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved." x Of course he 
here speaks of Gentiles and Israel — as he usually does in 
the Epistle to the Romans — as a whole, in the gross, and is 
not dealing with them severally or individually. 

It may suffice to say that the declarations of St. Peter and 
St. Paul together teach us that on the incoming of the Gen- 
tiles shall follow the conversion of Israel, which shall again 
be followed by the seasons of refreshing and the times of 
restoration of all things ; that we are then led on and up to 
the great and final "Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 
With the revelation thus made to us, it will be wisest to rest 
content, and not to wander into speculations of our own. 

(c) The prophecy of Moses which St. Peter (in verses 22 
and 23) quotes, freely, from Deuteronomy, 3 and which St. 
Stephen also quotes in his defence before the Sanhedrim, 4 
must not be carelessly passed by. It was a prophecy well 
known to the Jews in the time of our Lord, as is shown in 
the question to John Baptist (after he had declared that he 
was neither the Christ nor Elias), "Art thou that prophet ? " 5 

1 Rom. xi. 25, 26, 3 Deut. xviii. 18, 19. 

2 1 Tim. vi. 14 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; Tit. ii. 13. * Acts vii. 37. 

5 John i. 20, 21 ; comp. John vi. 14, vii. 40, 41 ; Matt. xvi. 14. See also Davison, Dis- 
courses on Prophecy, pp. 149-153. 



72 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

There was, however, a difference of opinion as to the per- 
sonality of "the prophet." Some seem to have identified 
him with Messiah, others to have distinguished him from 
Messiah. And this last-named class appear to have believed 
that he would be one of the " old prophets risen from the 
dead." 

For us, there can be no doubt as to the application of the 
prophecy to our Lord. He Himself declares that Moses 
wrote of Him, 1 and these are "the only words in which 
Moses, speaking in his own person, gives any such pre- 
diction ; " St. Peter and St. Stephen, as has been said, both 
apply the prophecy to Him ; and it is the basis of the argu- 
ment contained in the third chapter of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews. 

Taking this point, then, as settled, before we go on to con- 
sider the resemblances and contrasts between Moses and our 
Lord, we must bear in mind that prophecy " distinguishes 
itself into two parts, which may be called the moral or 
doctrinal, and the predictive." In like manner, the prophets 
are teachers of doctrinal and moral truth, as well as foretellers 
of the future. They carry on, and enlarge into specialty of 
detail, the original promise given in Paradise of a Redeemer, 2 
till its general and indeterminate prophecies touching the 
bruised head and the bruised heel expand into Isaiah's 
wonderful words which describe Messiah the Conqueror and 
Messiah the Sufferer ; till in "the Wonderful, the Counsellor, 
the Mighty God, the Father of a new age or dispensation, 
the Prince of Peace," 3 we learn the meaning of the bruised 
head; and in "the Man of sorrows, despised, rejected, and 
cut off from the land of the living," 4 we are taught the 
mystery of the bruised heel. But these same prophets also 
carry on, unfold, and enlarge the doctrinal and ethical truths 
that were given men under the patriarchal and Mosaic cove- 
nants, in a way parallel to that in which they enlarge the 

1 John v. 46 ; comp. John i. 21. 3 Isa. ix. 6. 

2 Gen. in. 15. * Isa. liii. 3, 8. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. Jl 

predictions of the same dispensations. " And it is remark- 
able that the prophet who of all others [Isaiah] is the most 
full and explicit in delineating the Messiah's kingdom of 
redemption, is equally distinguished for the copiousness and 
variety of his lessons of holiness." ■ It is only by thus keep- 
ing in view the full scope and significancy of the words 
"prophecy" and "prophet," that we can intelligently ap- 
proach the resemblances and contrasts between Moses and 
our Lord. 

The resemblances are manifold ; 2 but without entering into 
special details, the great thing to be observed — underlying 
as it does every thing else — is the fact that Moses was the 
Apostle and Mediator of the Jewish covenant, and that Jesus 
Christ is the Apostle and Mediator of the Christian cove- 
nant ; so that each was a revealer of a new dispensation ; 
and, moreover, each "was faithful to Him that appointed 
him." 3 Several subjects are here presented to our consider- 
ation. 

I. The two covenants : " the one from Mount Sinai, which 
gendereth to bondage," the other the "Jerusalem which is 
above, free, [and] the mother of us all ; " 4 the one a covenant 
" which decayeth and waxeth old, [and] is ready to vanish 
away," 5 the other "a better covenant," even an everlasting 
one, "established upon better promises;" 6 the one "dedi- 
cated" or inaugurated with "the blood of bulls and goats," 
the other with " the blood of Christ." ? 

II. Each of these covenants is called the '-house of God ;" 8 
the former being "the Church in the wilderness," the latter 
"the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of 
the truth." 9 Of the former, Moses was the apostle; of the 

1 Davison, Discourses, etc., p. 47. 

2 See Denton, Commentary on the Acts, vol. i. p. 113. 

3 Heb. iii. 2 ; comp. Gal. iii. 19. ■* Gal. iv. 24, 26. 

5 Heb. viii. 13. 6 Heb. viii. 6. 7 Heb. ix. 18, 19, 14. 

8 See, for the Mosaic covenant. Num. xii. 7, compared with Heb. iii. 2 ; and for the 
Christian, 1 Tim. iii. 15, compared with Heb. iii. 6. 

9 Acts vii. 38 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15. 



74 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

latter, Christ, and not the apostle only, but also the divinely 
appointed and living Head. 1 In these different houses, or 
Churches, both Moses and our Lord "were faithful." 2 But 
there the resemblance ends, and the contrasts begin. And 
those contrasts are very striking and instructive. 

Our Lord, the Word of God the Father, created all things, 
and, in especial, built and (so to speak) furnished the house 
of God in which he was faithful. This is distinctly declared 
in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 3 which also, by its silence as 
to Moses in these regards, asserts impliedly that he did not 
build the house, "the Church in the wilderness," in which 
he was faithful. 

Then, again, Moses was a " servant " in the house which 
he did not build; while our Lord was "a Son over His own 
house." 4 

And, moreover, Moses testified of a revelation to be made ; 
Christ made the revelation of which Moses testified. 5 

To these contrasts, we must add further that Moses, while 
he was an Apostle and Prophet, was neither Priest nor King. 
In the old covenant, the priesthood went in the line of 
Aaron, and God was the only true King of Israel. But our 
Lord is not only the Prophet greater than Moses, He is the 
Priest also, greater than Aaron, because He is after the order 
of Melchisedec, which is superior to the Levitical order ; 6 
because His priesthood is unchangeable ; 7 because He needs 
not to offer for his own sins, since He alone of men was 
sinless; 8 and because His offering is not imperfect and 
repeated, but perfect, and offered once for all, the " one sac- 
rifice for sins forever." 9 And He is also King, "heir of all 
things," as well as Maker of the world ; King in the realm 
not of nature only, but in that of grace as well ; " Head over 

1 On the term apostle, as applied to Moses, see Exod. iii. 10, 13, 14 ; as applied to our 
Lord, John xx. 21. Justin Martyr calls our Lord "our Teacher, both Son and Apostle 
of God." Apol., i. 12. 

2 Heb. iii. 5, 6. s Heb. iii. 5 ; comp. i. 2, and xii. 25. 

3 Heb. iii. 3, 4. 6 Heb. vii. 8 Heb. vii. 26, 27. 

4 Heb. iii. 5, 6. 7 Heb. vii 24. 9 Heb. ix. 28, x. 12. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 75 

all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of 
Him that filleth all in all." ■ 

III. It may not be out of place to conclude what has been 
said of Moses and the greater Prophet, with a word or two 
touching the difference between the revelations made under 
the two covenants. The great difference, and the only one 
that will be noted here, is plainly set forth in the first two 
verses of the Epistle to the Hebrews : " God, who, in divers 
portions and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the 
fathers by the prophets, hath, in these last days, spoken 
unto us by His Son." 

In this pregnant passage, we have to consider (a) "time 
past," as over against " these last days ; " (b) the " divers por- 
tions " and "divers manners" of the revelation made by the 
prophets, as over against the silence, in that regard, as to 
the revelation made by the Son of God; (c) the "prophets," 
as over against "His Son." 

(a) The "time past" covers all time in which there were 
revelations made by prophets ; that is, from antediluvian 
days down to the time when our Lord's ministry on earth 
began. If this stretches beyond the beginnings of the 
Israelitish covenant, it nevertheless includes it. 

The " last days " include all time from the beginning of 
our Lord's ministry on earth till His return to judgment. 
They mean the same thing as the "ends of the world," 
which St. Paul tells the Corinthians are come upon us ; 2 the 
same thing as those "last days" in which the same Apostle 
tells Timothy that "perilous times shall come." 3 In other 
words, the "last days" are the days of the Christian, the 
final, dispensation. 

(b) The mention of "the divers portions" recalls to us 
the fact that under the old covenant the revelation was pro- 
gressive, and not given once for all. Something has already 
been said touching this matter, but a little more detail may 
not be undesirable. All that was revealed to the prophets 

1 Eph. i. 22, 23. 2 1 Cor. x. 11. 3 2 Tim. iii. 1. 



?6 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

was not revealed at once and to a single person, nor was 
the whole revelation declared and published by any one such 
person. Truths were revealed to and declared by Isaiah, 
which were not revealed to or declared by Moses ; so that, 
the old revelation was not, at any one point, complete and 
perfect. Not that there was any contradiction between these 
different parts, or that they were not in entire harmony with 
each other ; but only that one part carried on towards com- 
pletion, and filled out, another part. Two instances, which 
shall be given even at the risk of repetition, may serve to 
put this matter in a clearer light. 

If we look back to the first prophecy of the suffering 
Messiah, how dim and destitute of any thing like detail are 
the words, " Thou shalt bruise His heel " ! But follow along 
the Old-Testament Scriptures through its line of prophecies, 
and see how the revelation grows, until " the advent of the 
Redeemer was but the visible appearance of the divine light 
with which the radiant cloud of prophecy had long been 
ready to break forth." l And yet the revelation was not 
complete until the Redeemer came. Prophecy was, indeed, 
"a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn." 
But our Lord was " the day-star " arising in men's hearts. 2 

Or, again, take the great ethical subject repentance, and 
consider how the revelation concerning it grows from the 
law to, and in, the prophets. " The law includes a general 
promise of pardon to the people when in captivity, in case 
of their national repentance, the pardon to comprehend a 
restoration to their land. The prophets address the in- 
dividual, and guarantee the promise to every soul 'turning 
from the error of his ways.' The law, in this point, regards 
the nation as the object of the grace. The prophets do 
more; they descend to the interests of personal religion." 3 
Great, however, as the advance was in this important matter, 
the revelation was not yet complete ; not even when John 

1 Davison, Discourses, etc., p. 74. 3 Davison, Discourses, etc., p. 61. 

2 2 Pet. i. 19. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. JJ 

Baptist came, preaching " the baptism of repentance for the 
remission of sins :" not, in truth, until the Lord said, "Thy 
sins be forgiven thee;" not till St. Paul wrote, "in whom we 
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." ' 

These instances, with what has been said before, explain 
the statement that the older revelation was made in " divers 
portions." 

This older revelation was also given in "divers manners," 
i.e., by various methods. Says Bishop Andrewes, " One man- 
ner, by dreams in the night ; another manner, by visions ; 
and then again of two manners, either presented to the 
outward sense, as Esay vi., or in an ecstasy represented to 
the inward, as Dan. x. ; another yet, by Urim in the breast 
of the priest ; and yet another, by a still small voice in the 
ears of the prophet ; and sometimes by an angel speaking 
in him. But most-what by His Spirit. And, to trouble you 
no more, very sure it is that, as for the matter in many 
broken pieces, so for the manner in many diverse fashions, 
spake He unto them." 2 

(c) " The prophets " are contrasted with " His Son." Who 
are meant by the prophets ? In answering that question, we 
must take into account not only the prophets themselves, 
but also the fathers to whom they spoke. " By the fathers 
must be meant not merely the patriarchs, but all former gen- 
erations of Israel ; in a word, the forefathers. The idea 
implied in prophets must be taken in an equally wide sense. 
. . . Prophets here, according to the context, comprehends 
all Old-Testament organs of revelation, so far as they were 
mere organs of God, in opposition to the Son, who was 
more than an organ," 3 being "the brightness of" the Father's 
" glory, and the express image of His person." And it must 
also, one would think, include John Baptist. 

Now, over against the progressive revelation made by the 
prophets, in "divers portions" and in "divers manners," is 

1 Eph. i. 7. 3 Olshausen on Heb. i. 1. 

2 Bishop Andrewes, Sermon VII., On the Nativity. 



?8 EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

set that revelation which God has made by His Son. Obvi- 
ously, these two revelations are intended to be placed in 
striking contrast ; and as obviously the contrast, in regard 
to the latter, centres in the words " His Son." There are no 
words or phrases which are put in direct contrast with the 
divers portions and manners. At first thought, then, it may 
seem as if the contrast limped, if it did not actually fail. 
But is this so ? Are not the missing words necessarily 
implied ? Are they not involved in the character of the 
Son ? To quote Bishop Andrewes again, " God, in time past, 
spake by the prophets ; and but by prophets He spake not 
from Moses to John Baptist, who was the horizon of the 
law and gospel. I will not stand to run through them all. 
And now the Apostle, when he is come to us 'in the last 
days,' when he should oppose three more to match the 
former three, he doth not, but passeth by the two first, — 
the parts and the manner, — and so insinuates thus much, 
that He hath spoken to us entirely without reservation, and 
uniformly without variation. . . . God spake once and twice, 
a third time He will not speak. This is His last time : He will 
speak no more. Look for no more pieces, nor fancy no more 
fashions. It is finished : there are no more to look for." l 

So we reach the great, underlying difference between the 
revelation made under the old covenant, and that made by 
our Lord under the new : the former, progressive, and, up 
to the very last, incomplete ; the latter, once for all, complete 
and final. 

7. The beautiful, peaceful picture of the growth of the 
Church, "praising God and having favor with all the peo- 
ple," which this section exhibits, is summed up in the words, 
" And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be 
saved." 2 The words " such as should be saved " are a most 

1 Sermon VII., On the Nativity. 

2 I have retained the words " to the Church," because, even if, as is most probable, 
the true reading is not rrj exKAijo-i'a, but e7rl to avr6, the result is the same. If they were 
added to the Church, they were together in unity ; if they were added together, it was in 
the Church. 



EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 79 

imperfect and unfortunate translation of the Greek (tovs 
crtotofievovs). The word is " a present participle in a middle 
sense." By neglecting this very obvious fact, the expression 
has been perverted in the interests of Calvinism. On the 
contrary, it is directly opposed to Calvinistic notions. " It 
is remarkable that the tense used (viz., the present) is the 
only tense which excludes the Calvinistic interpretation. 
Both the future and the past would have favored it." I The 
passage simply means that they who were added to the 
Church (or together) were, as coming under the new cove- 
nant, placed in a state or way of salvation. Nothing is inti- 
mated as to the final result in the cases of individuals, or as 
to their final perseverance, or as to their being predestinated 
to eternal life. Among those added, as we learn farther on, 
were Ananias and Sapphira. Were they gifted, as being 
predestinated, with final perseverance ? Rightly interpret- 
ed, the passage has not the slightest tincture of Calvinism 
in it. 

1 Bishop Middleton : On the Greek Article, p. 269, Rose's ed. 



So 



THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 



SECTION II. 

THE EARLIEST TRIAL FROM WITHOUT; THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 

{Chap. iv. 1-3 1.) 



i. And as they spake unto the people, 
the priests, and the captain of the temple, 
and the Sadducees, came upon them, 

2. Being grieved that they taught the 
people, and preached through Jesus the 
resurrection from the dead. 

3. And they laid hands on them, and put 
them in hold unto the next day : for it was 
now eventide. 

4. Howbeit many of them which heard 
the word believed ; and the number of the 
men was about five thousand. 

5. Tj And it came to pass on the morrow, 
that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, 

6. And Annas the high priest, and Caia- 
phas, and John, and Alexander, and as 
many as were of the kindred of the high 
priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 

7. And when they had set them in the 
midst, they asked, By what power, or by 
what name, have ye done this? 

8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy 
Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the 
people, and elders of Israel, 

9 If we this day be examined of the good 
deed done to the impotent man, by what 
means he is made whole ; 

10. Be it known unto you all, and to all 
the people of Israel, that by the name of 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye cruci- 
fied, whom God raised from the dead, even 
by him doth this man stand here before 
you whole. 

11. This is the stone which was set at 
nought of you builders, which is become 
the head of the corner. 

12. Neither is there salvation in any other : 
for there is none other name under heaven 
given among men, whereby we must be 
saved. 

13. ^f Now when they saw the boldness 
of Peter and John, and perceived that they 
were unlearned and ignorant men, they 



marvelled; and they took knowledge of 
them, that they had been with Jesus. 

14. And beholding the man which was 
healed standing with them, they could say 
nothing against it. 

15. But when they had commanded them 
to go aside out of the council, they con- 
ferred among themselves, 

16. Saying, What shall we do to these 
men ? for that indeed a notable miracle 
hath been done by them is manifest to all 
them that dwell in Jerusalem ; and we 
cannot deny it. 

17. But that it spread no further among 
the people, let us straitly threaten them, 
that they speak henceforth to no man in 
this name. 

18. And they called them, and com- 
manded them not to speak at all nor teach 
in the name of Jesus. 

19. But Peter and John answered and 
said unto them, Whether it be right in the 
sight of God to hearken unto you more 
than unto God, judge ye. 

20. For we cannot but speak the things 
which we have seen and heard. 

21. So when they had further threatened 
them, they let them go, finding nothing 
how they might punish them, because of 
the people : for all men glorified God for 
that which was done. 

22. For the man was above forty years 
old, on whom this miracle of healing was 
shewed. 

23. T[ And being let go, they went to their 
own company, and reported all that the 
chief priests and elders had said unto them. 

24. And when they heard that, they lifted 
up their voice to God with one accord, and 
said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made 
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that 
in them is : 

25. Who by the mouth of thy servant 



THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 8l 

David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, 29 And now, Lord, behold their threat- 

and the people imagine vain things ? enings : and grant unto thy servants, that 

26. The kings of the earth stood up, and with all boldness they may speak thy word, 
the rulers were gathered together against 30. By stretching forth thine hand to 
the Lord, and against his Christ. heal ; and that signs and wonders may be 

27. For of a truth against thy holy child done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. 
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both 31. And when they had prayed, the place 
Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gen- was shaken where they were assembled 
tiles, and the people of Israel, were gath- together; and they were all filled with the 
ered together, Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of 

2S. For to do whatsoever thy hand and God with boldness, 
thy counsel determined before to be done. 

I. It is obvious to remark that our Lord foretold tribula- 
tion, suffering, and persecution for His Church. And early, 
almost, indeed, before the sights and sounds of Pentecost 
have passed away from eye and ear, does the fulfilment of 
the prophecy begin. It sprung from hatred of that doctrine 
in which the Apostolic preaching always culminated. The 
Sadducees were sorely offended because St. Peter and St. 
John "preached through Jesus the resurrection from the 
dead ;" for "the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, 
neither angel nor spirit." These trifling unbelievers appear 
at that time to have had control of the Sanhedrim, or great 
council of the Jews, and to have carried with them the 
principal members of the priesthood. 

So begins the fulfilment of our Lord's words, "They will 
deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in 
the synagogues, and ye shall be brought before governors and 
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the 
Gentiles." ■ This first persecution exhausts itself, however, 
in imprisonment and threatenings ; there is neither scour- 
ging nor death. These will come in time, but they are not 
yet. The testimony, too, is as yet against the Jews only. 
That against the Gentiles will come, also, in time. 

Let us also notice that the testimony which the Apostles 
bear, like the word they preach, is a "two-edged sword." 2 
It is a testimony for them that receive it, against them that 
reject it. And even so the word preached is a " savour of 

1 Matt. x. 17, 18. 2 Rev. i. 16, ii. 12. 



82 THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 

life unto life " or of "death unto death," J as it is received or 
rejected. The testimony or the preaching the same ever 
and always ; but with what different results ! So " the 
same fire reddens the gold, and burns the dross ; under 
the same threshing-sledge the grain is cleansed, and the chaff 
is crushed out ; by the same press-beam the- oil is separated 
from the dregs. 2 

2. The closing words of St. Peter's reply to the questions 
of the Sanhedrim, " Neither is there salvation in any other, 
for there is none other name under heaven given among men, 
whereby we must be saved," have given rise to many search- 
ings of heart, and have been perverted to most unwarrantable 
conclusions. " The Apostle does not say there is no salva- 
tion except in our hearing of Christ, but that there is no 
salvation except in and through Christ." 3 

When the protevangel was given, the blessed promise of 
a coming Redeemer made to our first parents in paradise, 4 
no child of Adam had been born into the world. Every 
human being, therefore, born or to be born since, has been 
born, or will be born, under the beneficent operation of that 
promise, and, in so far as that promise involves a covenant, 
under some sort of covenant with God. 

If the Mosaic covenant could not, after the lapse of four 
hundred and fifty years, disannul the covenant with Abraham 
" confirmed of God in Christ," so that it should "make the 
promise" given to Abraham "of none effect" (and so St. 
Paul reasons in his Epistle to the Galatians), 4 no more can it 
disannul and make of none effect the covenant promise made 
in Paradise. No doubt, in the case of any descendant of 
the twelve sons of Jacob, if one of them refused the Mosaic 
covenant, he would be precluded from pleading that he was 
still under the Abrahamic promise or the older one made in 
Paradise. But, surely, all Abraham's descendants who were 

1 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. 4 Gen. iii. 15. 

2 Augustine: City of God, Book I. c. viii. 5 Gal. iii. 15-18. 

3 Denton, Comment, on Acts, vol. i. p. 126. 



THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 83 

not also descended from the twelve patriarchs were under 
the promise made to their great ancestor ; and all mankind 
were under that older promise, and, therefore, the subjects 
of our Lord's redemption. 

In the same way, all to whom the Christian covenant is 
offered, and who knowingly and wilfully reject it, put them- 
selves out of all covenant relation to God. But do not those 
to whom the Christian covenant has never been duly offered, 
still come under the original paradisaic promise ? If any 
man is saved, he is not saved away from Christ, apart from 
Christ, but in Christ and by the power of His name. 1 If the 
intensely subjective individualism which Puritanism has en- 
gendered incapacitates men from understanding or appre- 
ciating the objective value and power of Christ's redemption, 
and so leads them to " wrest the Scriptures," the fault is not 
in Scripture but in themselves, victims as they are of an 
utterly unscriptural system. May we not believe that Cor- 
nelius, whose prayers and alms came up as a memorial before 
God, might have been saved had he died before the gospel 
was preached to him ? And if saved, could he have been 
saved but by virtue of the sacrifice and in the power of the 
Name of Jesus Christ ? 

Says Jeremy Taylor, " There are many secret and unde- 
served mercies of which men can give no account till they 
come to give God thanks at their publication ; and of this 
sort is that mercy which God reserves for the souls of many 
millions of men and women, concerning whom we have no 
hopes if we account concerning them by the usual propor- 
tions of revelations and Christian commandments. . . . The 
effect of this consideration I would have to be this : that we 
may publicly worship this mercy of God which is kept in 

1 This is really all that is asserted in the Eighteenth Article of Religion. It anathe- 
matizes — and so did St. Paul (Gal. i. 8, 9) — those who preach a gospel which grounds 
salvation on what one does " in a law or sect," as having power in itself, and it asserts that 
all who are saved are saved in Christ. But it does not say that none can be saved but 
those who have heard the gospel. Writers differing as widely as Bishops Burnet, Har- 
old Browne, Forbes of Brechin, and Dr. Hey agree in this. 



84 THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 

secret, and that we be not too forward in sentencing all 
heathens and prevaricating Jews to the eternal pains of hell, 
but to hope that they have a portion in the secrets of the 
Divine mercy, where, also, unless many of us have some 
little portions deposited, our condition will be very uncertain 
and sometimes most miserable." " 

It may be said that this contradicts the well-known prin- 
ciple Extra ecclesiam nulla salus, no salvation outside the 
Church. But, surely, that phrase is to be regarded not as 
absolute, but as conditional ; and conditional in this regard, 
that it presupposes the offer of covenant grace and salva- 
tion in the Church, and its rejection. Till the offer has been 
made, there can be no rejection. Till there is wilful rejec- 
tion, there can be so far forth no actual sin committed. But 
more than this. Was the Holy Spirit never working among 
men before the Day of Pentecost? "Far, far from that. 
The Spirit worketh ever, and we see His work and His 
teaching all down the Old Testament dispensation ; and I for 
one would gladly believe that the Spirit had also worked on 
many a heathen sage and moralist before the coming of the 
Lord." 2 Before Pentecost His work was done in individual 
souls, while after Pentecost He organizes a society of men, 
the Church of God, and in that organization works in a 
higher way, and through more powerful influences, than He 
did on individuals, and moreover is in it " shed on us abun- 
dantly" 3 in a measure before unknown. 

Even Augustine distinguished between the soul of the 
Church, the Holy Ghost, and the body of the Church, the 
external profession of the faith and participation of the sacra- 
ments ; and admits that the former may be received when 
the latter cannot be had. " There are some," he says, " even 
of those who live badly, or are sunk in heresies or heathen 
superstitions ; and yet even there ' the Lord knoweth them 
that are His ; for, in the infallible foreknowledge of God, 

1 Quoted in Bishop Heber's Sermons in England, Sermon vii. 

2 Canon Ashwell : Lectures on the Holy Catholic Church, p. 38. 3 Tit. iii. 6. 



THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 85 

many who seem without are within, and many who seem 
within are without." x 

"Although by the promulgation of the gospel, and the 
universal commission to evangelize all nations, the condition 
of the heathen is changed, yet certainly it is not changed for 
the worse. Because God has intrusted to His Church some 
better thing for them, He has not therefore withdrawn any 
thing they before enjoyed. We may assume, then, at least, 
that they are as before ; and that they whom the one Church 
has never gathered into her precinct may yet be drawn by 
the one great Spirit, and saved by the unseen virtue of the 
one great Sacrifice. There is nothing in Holy Scripture 
warranting us to believe that the benefit of the atonement 
offered for the sin of the world is necessarily restricted to 
those who have explicit offers of salvation. It is revealed, 
indeed, that there is no other meritorious cause of salvation 
than the blood-shedding of Christ alone ; but we are not told 
that the relation towards God, even of those that never come 
to a knowledge of redemption, may not be altogether changed. 
But although we may have this hope, the Church is no less 
bound to go forth and preach to them the one faith, and the 
only salvation in the one Church of Christ, than if God had 
openly revealed what He has absolutely kept secret from us. 
I mean the rule of His dealings with them." 2 

3. Two things are specially striking in connection with 
this entire transaction : the power and ability of St. Peter's 
answer to the questions of the Sanhedrim, and the boldness 
of the reply of the two Apostles to the threatenings launched 
at them. 

In thinking of the former, we are at once carried back to 
those prophetic commands of our Lord in which He in- 
structed the Apostles to take no thought, when they were 
delivered up, " how or what " they should say for themselves, 

1 Augustine: On Baptism, against the Donatists, Book V. c. xxvii. Benedictine 
ed., col. ix., vol. 107, 108. 

2 Manning : The Unity of the Church, Part III., c. i. p. 291. 



86 THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 

because what they were to say should "be given" them, 
both as to matter and to manner. 1 And this was to be 
accomplished by the teaching and in the power of the Holy 
Ghost. 

In thinking of the latter, as we hear the Apostles saying, 
" Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto 
you more than unto God, judge ye." We remember the 
night of the Lord's betrayal, when "all the disciples," and 
with them Peter and John, "forsook Him and fled," and when 
Peter denied Him with oaths and blasphemy. 

Here is, assuredly, a marvellous change, too marvellous not 
to be noted. Rationalism itself, in its most extreme forms, 
has been compelled to admit this; 2 has been compelled to 
own that in the interval between the betrayal of the Lord, 
and the day when Peter and John stood before the Sanhe- 
drim, " something of a nature encouraging beyond what was 
ordinary must have taken place to transform the Apostles " 
into what they now appear to be ; nay, that, without the 
occurrence of this extraordinary something, their conduct is 
inexplicable. 

What this something was, may be a puzzle to unbelievers 
and rationalists. To believers, there is no puzzle about it. 
It is the promise of the Father, the power received at Pente- 
cost, which has wrought this transformation. Accept the 
one gracious miracle, and all becomes plain ; deny it, and 
you have to face a thousand impossibilities. 

4. The apostles, after they were set free, seem to have 
gone to some place where the believers were wont to assem- 
ble for united prayer. Where this place was, we are not 
told. Possibly it may have been in the temple. Having 
come thither, and detailed the circumstances of their arrest 
and trial to those who were gathered together, " they lift up 
their voice with one accord to God " in the prayer which is 

1 Matt. x. 19, 20 ; Mark xiii. 11 ; Luke xii. 11,12. St. Matthew includes manner and 
matter in the words n-ws r) ri. 

2 Paulus and Strauss admit so much. See Lee : The Inspiration of Holy Scripture, 
p. 248, and note 5, Am. ed. 



THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 8? 

recorded. The phraseology seems to indicate that all pres- 
ent united vocally in the prayer. Whether all spake together, 
by the working of the Holy Spirit, or whether one led — so 
to speak — and the others followed him, there would seem 
to have been united vocal utterance. And surely no light 
warrant is thus afforded to such utterances in the worship 
of the Church. 

In the prayer itself, two things must be specially noted. 
We find in it, first, the distinct acknowledgment that the 
"God of nature is also the God of grace," a truth which is 
as needful to be remembered now as in the early days when 
Manichaeans denied it. So Polycarp in his martyrdom ad- 
dressed God as "the God of angels, and powers, and of 
every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who 
live before Thee." * 

Farther on, we find it said, "For of a truth against Thy 
Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, 
and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of 
Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand 
and Thy counsel determined before to be done." Our ver- 
sion here is defective, because it easily leads readers to think 
that the slayers of our Lord were gathered to do that which 
God had determined they should do ; whereas the original 
conveys no such meaning. The verb translated "to be 
done " is not the verb, or any part of it, before translated 
"to do." It is a totally different word. A better version 
would be, " for to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel 
predetermined to take place" z God had indeed appointed 
that Christ should die for all men. But he had not fore- 
ordained or decreed the means by which His death was 
brought about. They were acts of the free will of those 
who employed them ; and for which they, therefore, were 
responsible. No doubt the evil was overruled for the great- 

1 Martyrdom of Polycarp, c. xiv. 

2 Bishop Wordsworth notices the difference. They were gathered noiyjaat, (= to do) 
what God had appointed yeveaOat (= to take place, or to be). The latter verb, in order 
to warrant our version, should have been jreTroiijatfai, which it is not. 



88 THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 

est possible good ; but it remained evil still, and they who 
did the evil were responsible for it. 

As God, although He may use evil done by another for 
a good end, never Himself does evil that He may from it 
elicit good, so it is not lawful for us to do evil that good may 
come from it. To use what is evil, for a good purpose, is one 
thing. To do evil, for the purpose of bringing about good, 
is another thing. We must never think that God antece- 
dently wills, approves, or selects any thing that is evil, as 
being, in its own nature, fitted to produce any good result. 1 . 

: Bishop Sanderson, Lectures on Conscience, Lect. ii. § 7. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 



8 9 



SECTION III. 

THE EARLIEST TRIAL FROM WITHIN: ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 
{Chap. iv. 32 to chap. v. 12.) 



32. And the multitude of them that be- 
lieved were of one heart and of one soul : 
neither said any of them that ought of the 
things which he possessed was his own ; 
but they had all things common. 

33. And with great power gave the apos- 
tles witness of the resurrection of the Lord 
Jesus : and great grace was upon them all. 

34. Neither was there any among them 
that lacked : for as many as were possessors 
of lands or houses sold them, and brought 
the prices of the things that were sold, 

35. And laid them down at the apostles' 
feet : and distribution was made unto every 
man according as he had need. 

36. And Joses, who by the apostles was 
surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being inter- 
preted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, 
and of the country of Cyprus, 

37. Having land, sold zV, and brought the 
money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

1. But a certain man named Ananias, 
with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 

2. And kept back part of the price, his 
wife also being privy to it, and brought a 
certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath 
Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy 
Ghost, and to keep back part of the price 
of the land ? 



4. Whiles it remained, was it not thine 
own ? and after it was sold, was it not in 
thine own power ? why hast thou conceived 
this thing in thine heart ? thou hast not lied 
unto men, but unto God. 

5. And Ananias hearing these words fell 
down, and gave up the ghost : and great 
fear came on all them that heard these 
things. 

6. And the young men arose, wound him 
up, and carried him out, and buried him. 

7. And it was about the space of three 
hours after, when his wife, not knowing 
what was done, came in. 

8. And Peter answered unto her, Tell 
me whether ye sold the land for so much ? 
And she said, Yea, for so much. 

9. Then Peter said unto her, How is it 
that ye have agreed together to tempt the 
Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of 
them which have buried thy husband are 
at the door, and shall carry thee out. 

10. Then fell she down straightway at 
his feet, and yielded up the ghost : and the 
young men came in, and found her dead, 
and, carrying her forth, buried her by her 
husband. 

11. And great fear came upon all the 
church, and upon as many as heard these 
things. 



I. If our Lord had foretold persecution from without, 
bringing with it trial and suffering, no less clearly had he 
foretold evil springing up within the Church, marring the 
Divine ideal of the Bride of Christ, and frustrating, so far 
forth, the gracious purposes of our heavenly Father. The 
parables of the field in which the tares were mingled with 
the wheat, and the drag-net which held within its folds the 
good fishes and the bad, sufficiently illustrate this very 



90 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

solemn truth. As, under the older dispensation, God had "a 
vineyard in a very fruitful hill ; " as then He had to say, 
" What could have been done more to my vineyard that I 
have not done in it ? Wherefore, when I looked that it 
should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? " r 
so has it been under the dispensation of the Spirit. Man's 
weakness mars, man's sin thwarts, ever and always, God's 
gracious purposes in his behalf. 

But how are we to reconcile this state of things in the 
Christian Church (foreshadowed in the sad story that forms 
the principal subject of this section) with such glowing 
words as those of Isaiah in the sixtieth chapter of his 
prophecies, or of St. Paul to the Ephesians, when he says, 
" Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He 
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by 
the word, that he might present it to Himself a glorious 
Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish " ? 2 Is there 
such hopeless contradiction between these passages and our 
Lord's prophetic parables as to make any attempt to recon- 
cile them a waste of time ? Or has man utterly destroyed 
and brought to nought the plans of God ? 

The difficulty is greater in appearance than in reality ; for, 
in the first place, we must remember that the prophets, in 
their raptured visions, present to us the Divine ideal of the 
Church, — what it would have been had it not been intrusted, 
under the Spirit, to the administration of men who, however 
weak and sinful, were still free agents. And, secondly, we 
must not forget that the Church, " now living by faith while 
she is a pilgrim among evil men," will, "in the stability of 
that eternal habitation which she now patiently waits for," 
become indeed "the most glorious city of God," 3 and make 

1 Isa. v. 1,4. 

2 Eph. v. 25, 26, 27. Compare Cant. iv. 7, a passage which St. Paul evidently had 
in mind, but which modern Romanism, in the teeth of all Catholic exposition, applies, 
not to the Church, but to the Virgin Mary. 

3 Augustine, City of God, preface. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 91 

real every loftiest vision and every most glowing word of 
prophecy. 

They "walk in a vain show" who dream of a Church here 
on earth in which no evil shall be found. Nay, more, they 
decline at last — so all experience teaches — into Antino- 
mian heresy, deny the obligation of God's moral law, and fall 
into "wretchlessness of carnal living." Beginning with claim- 
ing exalted purity, they end, as a rule, with " wallowing in the 
mire." 

2. After what was said above concerning the alleged 
"community of goods" in the church at Jerusalem, nothing 
need be added here ; and we can proceed at once to that 
which is the main subject of the section. 

The sin of Ananias and Sapphira is, in the last analysis, 
neither more nor less than sacrilege. It led on, indeed, to 
another and most fearful sin, but it was the original offence. 
A certain offering had been made to God, and then a part of 
it withdrawn. It was the sin of Achan. 1 In his case, some- 
thing had been dedicated to God under the ban, or curse, and 
Achan purloined a part of it. Ananias and Sapphira did the 
same thing, and committed the same crime, which they after- 
wards attempted to conceal by falsehood. 

And the lie was not to men, but to God. Perverse inge- 
nuity has tried to rid itself of the attestation here given to 
the Deity of the Holy Ghost, but in vain. The offenders 
did not defraud men, they defrauded the Holy Ghost (ver. 3) ; 
they did not lie to men, they lied to God (ver. 4). The con- 
clusion is inevitable. "As certainly as the Apostles were 
men, so certainly was the Holy Ghost, in the esteem of St. 
Peter, God." 2 

1 Josh. vii. 1. The LXX. read here evoafiio-avTo anb tov avade^aro^ ; and in Acts we 
read evoa^io-aro anb tjj? Ti/ui}?. Comp. Tit. ii. 10. 

2 Pearson, On the Creed, art. Holy Ghost. 



9 2 



THE SECOND PERSECUTION. 



SECTION IV. 

THE SECOND PERSECUTION. 
{Chap. v. 12-42.) 



12. Tf And by the hands of the apostles 
were many signs and wonders wrought 
among the people ; (and they were all with 
one accord in Solomon's porch. 

13. And of the rest durst no man join 
himself to them : but the people magnified 
them. 

14. And believers were the more added 
to the Lord, multitudes both of men and 
women.) 

15. Insomuch that they brought forth the 
sick into the streets, and laid them on beds 
and couches, that at the least the shadow of 
Peter passing by might overshadow some 
of them. 

16. There came also a multitude out of the 
cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing 
sick folks, and them which were vexed with 
unclean spirits : and they were healed every 
one. 

17. If Then the high priest rose up, and 
all they that were with him, (which is the 
sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with 
indignation, 

18. And laid their hands on the apostles, 
and put them in the common prison. 

19. But the angel of the Lord by night 
opened the prison doors, and brought them 
forth, and said, 

20. Go, stand and speak in the temple to 
the people all the words of this life. 

21. And when they heard that, they en- 
tered into the temple early in the morning, 
and taught. But the high priest came, and 
they that were with him, and called the 
council together, and all the senate of the 
children of Israel, and sent to the prison to 
have them brought. 

22. But when the officers came, and found 
them not in the prison, they returned, and 
told, 

23. Saying, The prison truly found we 
shut with all safety, and the keepers stand- 



ing without before the doors : but when we 
had opened, we found no man within. 

24. Now when the high priest and the 
captain of the temple and the chief priests 
heard these things, they doubted of them 
whereunto this would grow. 

25. Then came one and told them, saying, 
Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are 
standing in the temple, and teaching the 
people. 

26. Then went the captain with the offi- 
cers, and brought them without violence: 
for they feared the people, lest they should 
have been stoned. 

27. And when they had brought them, 
they set the?n before the council : and the 
high priest asked them, 

28. Saying, Did not we straitly command 
you that ye should not teach in this name? 
and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with 
your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's 
blood upon us. 

29. *[f Then Peter and the other apostles 
answered and said, We ought to obey God 
rather than men. 

30. The God of our fathers raised up 
Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 

31. Him hath God exalted with his right 
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to 
give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness 
of sins. 

32. And we are his witnesses of these 
things : and so is also the Holy Ghost, 
whom God hath given to them that obey 
him. 

33. Tf When they heard that, they were 
cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay 
them. 

34. Then stood there up one in the coun- 
cil, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of 
the law, had in reputation among all the 
people, and commanded to put the apostles 
forth a little space. 



THE SECOND PERSECUTION. 93 

35. And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, counsel or this work be of men, it will come 
take heed to yourselves what ye intend to to nought : 

do as touching these men. 39. But if it be of God, ye cannot over- 

36. For before these days rose up Theu- throw it ; lest haply ye be found even to 
das, boasting himself to be somebody ; to fight against God. 

whom a number of men, about four nun- 40. And to him they agreed : and when 

dred, joined themselves : who was slain ; they had called the apostles, and beaten 

and all, as many as obeyed him, were scat- them, they commanded that they should not 

tered, and brought to nought. speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 

37. After this man rose up Judas of Gali- 41. ^f And they departed from the pres- 
lee in the days of the taxing, and drew away ence of the council, rejoicing that they were 
much people after him : he also perished ; counted worthy to suffer shame for his 
and all, even as many as obeyed him, were name. 

dispersed. 42. And daily in the temple, and in every 

3S. And now I say unto you, Refrain from house, they ceased not to teach and preach 

tiiese men, and let them alone : for if this Jesus Christ. 



i. In this section we have presented to us, as usual, the 
calm before the storm. Solomon's porch seems to have been 
the place where the Apostles mostly preached. In the same 
place — a colonnade on the east side of the temple, believed 
to be a part of the original building — our Lord had preached, 1 
and declared Himself as the Christ and the Son of God, ap- 
pealing to the works wrought in His Father's name as His 
sufficing witness. Here the Apostles preached and declared 
the same Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, and wrought 
signs and wonders in His Name. The upper room had, even 
before this time, become too " strait " to hold the Church, 
now "breaking forth on. the right hand and on the left," 2 and 
entering on its course of unlimited expansion. 

2. Some perplexity has been caused by the statement that 
"of the rest durst no man join himself to them, but the 
people magnified them." The way in which the Jewish au- 
thorities are set over against the body of the people, later on, 
suggests that by the words, " the rest," St. Luke intends to 
designate the rulers. However that may be, it is clear that 
our Lord's prophetic declaration that the disciple should be 
"as his master, and the servant as his lord," 3 is here finding 
fulfilment. As the Pharisees and rulers did not believe in 



1 John x. 23. See also above, Acts iii. 11. 

2 Isa. xlix. 20, liv. 3. 3 Matt. x. 25. 



94 THE SECOND PERSECUTION. 

the Christ, while " the common people heard Him gladly," ' 
so is it now with those whom He sent. 

3. It is noticeable how the persecution becomes more 
severe as the spread of the kingdom advances. In the first 
persecution only two Apostles appear ; now more, perhaps the 
twelve, are seen. Then the two Apostles were placed under 
ward, 2 in some prison house ; now all are placed in the public 
prison. Then they were dismissed after being threatened ; 3 
now they are let go after scourging. Death has not yet been 
inflicted, but it is looming in the near future. 

As dangers, however, multiply, and strengthening for the 
doing of their duty becomes more needful, so help and assur- 
ance are increased, and deliverance by supernatural aid is 
manifested. An angel, plainly sent by our Lord, opens the 
prison-doors, and sends them to the temple to preach there 
that life, in all its aspects for time and for eternity, which 
flows down to men, in the power of the Holy Spirit, from the 
resurrection life of the incarnate God, who is " the way, 
and the truth, and the life." 

This is the first angelic appearance recorded in the Book 
of Acts. It carries us back, in thought, to the visions of 
Jacob and Elisha, to the deliverance of Daniel, and the min- 
istrations to our Lord after His temptation and in the garden 
of His agony. 4 It ought to make us remember, and be 
thankful for the remembrance, that these blessed beings, who 
always do God service in heaven, do also " succor and 
defend " His children upon earth. 5 

4. Those who have been trained in the historic creeds will 
have no difficulty in following intelligently St. Peter's brief 
address to the council. The mention, however, of the " wit- 
ness of the Holy Ghost " may well be considered more at 
length. 

There was a witness of the Holy Ghost to Christ our 

1 John vii. 48 ; Mark xii. 37. 2 Acts iv. 3. 3 Acts iv. 17, 18. 

4 Gen. xxviii. 1252 Kings vi. 17 ; Dan. vi. 22 ; Matt. iv. 11 ; Luke xxii. 43. 

s Collect for St. Michael and All Angels. 



THE SECOND PERSECUTION. 95 

Lord, before He came to earth. "The testimony of Jesus is 
the Spirit of prophecy," and in the " old time, holy men of 
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." l Our 
Lord, also, in the walk to Emmaus on the first Easter Day, 
" beginning at Moses and the prophets, expounded unto 
them, in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself;" 2 
and St. Peter declared to Cornelius and those who were with 
him, "to Him give all the prophets witness." 3 

During His earthly ministry, our Lord spoke especially of 
the witness of John Baptist, of the witness of the works 
which He did, and of the witness of His Father. 4 But the 
Holy Ghost also bore witness to Him, even as John Baptist 
said of Him on whom he saw "the Spirit descending and 
remaining on Him." 

After His resurrection, and during the Apostolic age, the 
Apostles constantly testified to Him ; " God also bearing 
them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers 
powers, and gifts of the Holy Ghost." 5 

And, indeed, in all time, since the great Day of Pentecost, 
the witness of the Spirit has been borne ; the witness to 
individual souls, by which " the Spirit itself beareth witness 
with our spirit," that we are the children of God ; 6 the public, 
open, continuous witness of "the Spirit and the water and 
the blood; " 7 the water of the Lord's own baptism at Jordan, 
and the water, " sanctified to the mystical washing away of 
sin," in every Christian baptism since Pentecost ; the blood 
of our Lord's own Passion, and of every commemoration of 
that Passion, and every representation of the blood then 
outshed, made before God the Father in the Holy Eucharist. 8 
Much more might be added, but this must suffice. 

1 Rev. xix. 10 ; 2 Pet. i. 21. 3 Acts x. 43. 

2 Luke xxiv. 27. ■+ John v. 31-37. 

5 Heb. ii. 4. Our version translates Swd/xecn by "wonders." Comp. Acts i. 8, v. 32, 
x. 39, etc. 

6 Bishop Bull's Discourse HI., " The Witness of the Spirit," is as valuable as when 
it was written. 

7 1 John v. 6, 8. 

8 Canon Westcott, The Epistles of St. John, pp. 173-177. 



96 THE SECOND PERSECUTION. 

5. It must be remembered, that all for which St. Luke is 
responsible in the matter of the address of Gamaliel, is the 
correctness of its record. Gamaliel was not inspired ; and 
none of his words, however wise they may be, can be quoted 
as words of inspiration. It is necessary to bear this in 
mind, because his counsel to " refrain from these men," etc., 
is often quoted as an inspired utterance ; and his words are 
often spoken of as being the words of St. Luke. This they 
are in no sense, any more than the words of Gallio or Felix 
or Agrippa are. His words may be, they are, wiser words, 
than those of the three just named. But they are still 
simply and only his own. 1 

6. At the close of their first imprisonment, when the 
Apostles had returned " to their own company," they prayed 
for boldness to speak the word of the Lord. Now they 
depart from their second imprisonment and the scourging that 
followed it, "rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer 
shame for His name." They have risen, therefore, to a 
higher point in spiritual attainment, even to the level of the 
eighth beatitude and its special application. Faithfulness in 
standing by the truth, fortitude in bearing suffering for it, 
have grown up into rejoicing that they are counted worthy to 
suffer. Such is the law of the Christian life in all things. 
Each step leads on to another, and still another, and from 
the beginnings — however small — believers go on unto com- 
pletion. May we not believe that St. Peter had this, among 
other experiences, in mind, when he wrote, " If ye be re- 
proached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit 
of glory and of God resteth upon you " ? 2 

1 Of course, if St. Luke represents Gamaliel as speaking of a Theudas who did not 
" rise up " till many years later than the date of his speech, that would utterly destroy 
the Evangelist's character for accuracy and veracity. But Theudas was a very common 
name, and the difficulty is easily disposed of. See especially, Denton, Comment, on Acts, 
vol. i. p. 173, note B. The case of Judas of Galilee presents no difficulty whatever. 

2 1 Pet. iv. 14. 



THE INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE. 97 



SECTION V. 

THE INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE. 
{Chap. vi. 1-6.) 

1. And in those days, when the number 4. But we will give ourselves continu- 
of the disciples was multiplied, there arose ally to prayer, and to the ministry of the 
a murmuring of the Grecians against the word. 

Hebrews, because their widows were neg- 5. *|[ And the saying pleased the whole 

lected in the daily ministration. multitude : and they chose Stephen, a man 

2. Then the twelve called the multitude full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and 
of the disciples ttnto them, and said, It is Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and 
not reason that we should leave the word of Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a prose- 
God, and serve tables. lyte of Antioch : 

3. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out 6. Whom they set before the apostles : 
among you seven men of honest report, and when they had prayed, they laid their 
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom hands on them. 

we may appoint over this business. 

I. The immemorial view of the Church has been that this 
section records the institution of the diaconate. 1 Of late 
years this view has been questioned by many who seem to 
attach a greater value to their own critical hypotheses and 
guesses, and etymological and grammatical niceties and pos- 
sibilities, than they do to all historical testimony and recorded 
facts. 2 

1 Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Book I. c. xxvi. sect. 3), says this in so many words. 
Eusebius says the same (Eccl. Hist., Lib. II. c. i.). So does the Council of Neocaesarea, 
held before 325 (Can. XV.). Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius, and Justin Martyr 
recognize deacons as an order in the ministry. Later testimony abounds. To oppose to 
this torrent of historical witness, possible meanings of two or three Greek words, is simply 
absurd. 

2 Not to encumber the text with these objections, some of them are thrown into this 
foot-note. (1) The name "deacon" is not given to the seven. It is, at least, intimated 
in the words " daily ministration " [Sto/covta] and " to serve [SiaKovelv] tables." Under its 
aspect of service every partaker in the one ministry may be called, no doubt, a deacon. 
But we are concerned with things, not words. (2) There " must have been some persons 
of an inferior grade to aid the Apostles before the event here recorded occurred." What 
an individual thinks as to what must or ought to have been, cannot be made into history. 
(3) Because in chap. v. 6, the "young men " who buried Ananias are called veoWepoi, and 
this word seems to be the correlative of npeafivrepoi, it has been argued that they were an 



98 THE INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE. 

2. The immediate difficulty which was the occasion of the 
action here recorded arose from the increase in the number 
of believers. As they were multiplied, the persons needing 
ministration of alms would be multiplied also. Indeed, the 
number of such persons would seem to have been greater in 
Jerusalem and Judaea than in other places where the Church 
had gained a foothold. We know that help was at different 
times sent from Antioch, Macedonia, and Achaia, to the 
"brethren dwelling in Judaea," and "the poor saints at 
Jerusalem." x Moreover, this necessity of providing for the 
poor must go with the Church wherever it goes, and it must 
continue in all time, being not a temporary but a permanent 
thing. The occasion, then, of which the Apostles availed 
themselves, would be in the nature of things a permanent 
and universal one, suggesting, at least, the permanency and 
universality of the provision made to meet it. The same 
line of remark will apply to all the ordinary offices and 
duties of the Christian ministry as yet held and exercised 
by the Apostles alone : wherefore we need not wonder if 
other duties than those pertaining to the daily ministration 
are committed to the seven ; nor yet if we find, as we shall 
find, others besides the seven sharing in the powers of the 
one ministry. 

3. We have here mention of what some have called two 
parties, though they might better be called two classes, in 
the Church ; namely, Hebrews and Hellenists, or, as we 
read in our version, Grecians. "The Hellenists were the 
Grecian Jews ; not only those who were themselves prose- 
lytes, nor only those who came of families once proselytized, 
but all who, on account of origin or habitation, spoke Greek 
as their ordinary language, and used ordinarily the Septua- 
gint version. The Hebrews were the pure Jews, not neces- 

order, or quasi order, of the ministry. But they are called in v. 10 veavlo-noi (young 
men), and this would hardly be the case if the former word were an official title ; had the 
presbuteroi been anywhere called yepcucu (old men), to what diatribes should we have 
been treated on the impossibility of their being an order in the ministry ! 
1 Acts xi. 29 ; Rom. xv. 26. 



THE INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE. 99 

sarily resident in Palestine, nor necessarily of unmixed Jewish 
descent, but rather distinguished by language, as speaking 
the Syro-Chaldaic, and using the Hebrew Scriptures." ' 

Obviously the latter class would be likely to be in the 
majority at Jerusalem ; so that their widows would be 
better known, and have more friends, than those of the 
former. Hence arose, naturally, the complaints of neglect. 

This neglect is connected with "the daily ministration," 
by which we are to understand the daily gifts of food and 
alms ; and though the widows spoken of can hardly yet be 
regarded as an organized body, as they appear in I Tim. v. 
3 ff., still we find them as special recipients of the bene- 
factions of the faithful, and can see how the official title — 
so to speak — afterwards given originated. 

4. The names of the seven are Greek. But that would 
not prove that all were Hellenists ; for St. Luke, writing 
for Greeks, would naturally give all the names in that 
language. At the same time, it is clear enough that all but 
one were born Jews, since only one is specially mentioned 
as a proselyte. It has been suggested that three were 
Hebrews, three Hellenists, and one a proselyte. But this is 
mere conjecture. 

5. There is a certain similarity, and also a contrast, in the 
methods observed in appointing the seven, and those which 
appear in the selection of Matthias. In both cases there 
is a selection or designation of persons ; in the earlier 
case, of two by the " hundred and twenty ; " in the later, 
of seven by the "whole multitude." In neither case did 
the selection accomplish the appointment, or vest with the 
office. In the one, solemn reference is made to our Lord 
to designate "whether of the two" He had chosen. In the 
other, those selected are presented to the Apostles, and by 
them " appointed over this business." Only the change of 
the words " whom we may appoint," into the words " whom 

1 Dean Alford, in loc. For the sake of perspicuity, I have quoted Alford's words for 
the second time. 



100 THE INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE. 

ye may appoint," — a change, by the way, once made in an 
edition of the Scriptures, — can ever so twist this passage 
from its real import, as to make it available for the theory 
that office in the Church is given by election of "the 
congregation." 

6. "The duty to which the deacons were set apart was 
1 to serve tables ; ' and they were ' appointed over the busi- 
ness ' which consisted in 'the daily ministration.' Their 
office, however, was not merely civil or economical : it was 
also sacred and ecclesiastical." l The service may well be 
understood, as history has interpreted it, to relate not merely 
to those tables from which ordinary food was distributed, but 
to the Table of which Christians are partakers. 

Their functions, however, were not confined to this ; for 
although we have nothing in the way of detail concerning 
any of the seven, except Stephen and Philip, it is perfectly 
fair to reason from them to others. Stephen preached with 
"wisdom and spirit" in Jerusalem, while Philip by his 
preaching won the title of Evangelist. 2 He also baptized 
as well as preached in Samaria. 3 The theory sometimes 
advanced, that it was Philip the Apostle, and not Philip the 
Deacon, who "went down to the city of Samaria," must be 
forced upon Scripture, and cannot be read in it. For, in 
the first place, we find that when so many Christians left 
Jerusalem at the time of Philip's preaching in Samaria, 
the Apostles remained in that city ; and, in the next place, 
we are told that after his interview with the Ethopian, 
Philip " preached in all the cities till he came to Cassarea ; " 
and further when St. Paul, later on, found him in Caesarea, 
he is distinctly called one of the seven." 4 It was the 
Deacon, then, and not the Apostle, who preached and bap- 
tized in Samaria ; so that we are warranted in the conclu- 
sion, that, in the Apostolic Church, deacons ministered alms, 
served at the Lord's Table, preached, and baptized. 

1 Pearson : Minor Works, vol. i. p. 346. 3 Acts viii. 12, 38. 

2 Acts xxi. 8. 4 Acts viii. 1, 40, xxi. 8. 



THE INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE. IOI 

7. Later on, we find deacons at Philippi and Ephesus ; x 
while the testimony as to their continuance in the Church 
of the sub-apostolic age, and from that time onward, is 
beyond dispute. 

1 Phil. i. 1 : 1 Tim. iii. 8 ff. 



102 



THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 



SECTION VI. 

THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 
{Chap. vi. 7 to chap. viii. j.) 



7. And the word of God increased ; and 
the number of the disciples multiplied in 
Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of 
the priests were obedient to the faith. 

8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, 
did great wonders and miracles among the 
people. 

9. T] Then there arose certain of the syna- 
gogue, which is called the synagogue of the 
Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandri- 
ans, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, 
disputing with Stephen. 

10. And they were not able to resist the 
wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. 

11. Then they suborned men, which said, 
We have heard him speak blasphemous 
words against Moses, and against God. 

12. And they stirred up the people, and 
the elders, and the scribes, and came upon 
him, and caught him, and brought him to 
the council, 

13. And set up false witnesses, which said, 
This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous 
words against this holy place, and the law : 

14. For we have heard him say, that this 
Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, 
and shall change the customs which Moses 
delivered us. 

15. And all that sat in the council, look- 
ing stedfastly on him, saw his face as it 
had been the face of an angel. 

1. Then said the high priest, Are these 
things so ? 

2. And he said, Men, brethren, and 
fathers, hearken ; The God of glory ap- 
peared unto our father Abraham, when he 
was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in 
Charran, 

3. And said unto him, Get thee out of 
thy country, and from thy kindred, and 
come into the land which I shall shew thee. 

4. Then came he out of the land of the 
Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and 



from thence, when his father was dead, he 
removed him into this land, wherein ye now 
dwell. 

5. And he gave him none inheritance in 
it, no, not so much as to set his foot on : 
yet he promised that he would give it to 
him for a possession, and to his seed after 
him, when as yet he had no child. 

6. And God spake on this wise, That his 
seed should sojourn in a strange land ; and 
that they should bring them into bondage, 
and entreat them evil four hundred years. 

7. And the nation to whom they shall be 
in bondage will I judge, said God : and after 
that shall they come forth, and serve me in 
this place. 

8. And he gave him the covenant of cir- 
cumcision : and so Abraham begat Isaac, 
and circumcised him the eighth day ; and 
Isaac begat Jacob ; and Jacob begat the 
twelve patriarchs. 

9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, 
sold Joseph into Egypt : but God was with 
him, 

10. And delivered him out of all his 
afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom 
in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt ; and 
he made him governor over Egypt and all 
his house. 

11. Now there came a dearth over all the 
land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great 
affliction : and our fathers found no suste- 
nance. 

12. But when Jacob heard that there was 
corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 

13. And at the second time Joseph was 
made known to his brethren ; and Joseph's 
kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. 

14. Then sent Joseph, and called his 
father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, 
threescore and fifteen souls. 

15. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and 
died, he, and our fathers, 



THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 



IO3 



16. And were carried over into Sychem, 
and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham 
bought for a sum of money of the sons of 
Emmor the father of Sychem. 

17. But when the time of the promise 
drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abra- 
ham, the people grew and multiplied in 
Egypt, 

iS. Till another king arose, which knew 
not Joseph. 

19. The same dealt subtilly with our 
kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so 
that they cast out their young children, to 
the end they might not live. 

20. In which time Moses was born, and 
was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his 
father's house three months : 

21. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's 
daughter took him up, and nourished him 
for her own son. 

22. And Moses was learned in all the 
wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty 
in words and in deeds. 

23. And when he was full forty years old, 
it came into his heart to visit his brethren 
the children of Israel. 

24. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, 
he defended him, and avenged him that 
was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian ; 

25. For he supposed his brethren would 
have understood how that God by his hand 
would deliver them: but they understood 
not. 

26. And the next day he shewed himself 
unto them as they strove, and would have 
set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are 
brethren ; why do ye wrong one to 
another ? 

27. But he that did his neighbour wrong 
thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a 
ruler and a judge over us ? 

28. Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the 
Egyptian yesterday ? 

29. Then fled Moses at this saying, and 
was a stranger in the land of Madian, where 
he begat two sons. 

30. And when forty years were expired 
there appeared to him in the wilderness of 
mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame 
of fire in a bush. 

31. When Moses saw if, he wondered at 
the sight : and as he drew near to behold it, 
the voice of the Lord came unto him, 

32. Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, 
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, 



and the God of Jacob. Then Moses 
trembled, and durst not behold. 

23- Then said the Lord to him, Put off 
thy shoes from thy feet : for the place where 
thou standest is holy ground. 

34. I have seen, I have seen the affliction 
of my people which is in Egypt, and I have 
heard their groaning, and am come down to 
deliver them. And now come, I will send 
thee into Egypt. 

35. This Moses whom they refused, say- 
ing, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? 
the same did God send to be a ruler and a 
deliverer by the hand of the angel which 
appeared to him in the bush. 

36. He brought them out, after that he 
had shewed wonders and signs in the land 
of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the 
wilderness forty years. 

37. \ This is that Moses, which said 
unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall 
the Lord your God raise up unto you of 
your brethren, like unto me ; him shall ye 
hear. 

38. This is he, that was in the church in 
the wilderness with the angel which spake 
to him in the mount Sina, and with our 
fathers : who received the lively oracles to 
give unto us : 

39. To whom our fathers would not obey, 
but thrust him from them, and in their 
hearts turned back again into Egypt, 

40. Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to 
go before us : for as for this Moses, which 
brought us out of the land of Egypt, we 
wot not what is become of him. 

41. And they made a calf in those days, 
and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and re- 
joiced in the works of their own hands. 

42. Then God turned, and gave them up 
to worship the host of heaven ; as it is 
written in the book of the prophets, O ye 
house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain 
beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty 
years in the wilderness ? 

43. Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of 
Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, 
figures which ye made to worship them : 
and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. 

44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of 
witness in the wilderness, as he had ap- 
pointed, speaking unto Moses, that he 
should make it according to the fashion 
that he had seen 

45. Which also our fathers that came 



104 



THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 



after brought in with Jesus into the posses- 
sion of the Gentiles, whom God drave out 
before the face of our fathers, unto the days 
of David ; 

46. Who found favour before God, and 
desired to find a tabernacle for the God of 
Jacob. 

47. But Solomon built him an house. 

48. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not 
in temples made with hands ; as saith the 
prophet, 

49. Heaven is my throne, and earth is my 
footstool ; what house will ye build me ? 
saith the Lord : or what is the place of my 
rest? 

50. Hath not my hand made all these 
things ? 

51. ^[ Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised 
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the 
Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so do ye. 

52. Which of the prophets have not your 
fathers persecuted? and they have slain 
them which shewed before of the coming 
of the Just One; of whom ye have been 
now the betrayers and murderers : 

53. Who have received the law by the 
disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 

54. Tf When they heard these things, 
they were cut to the heart, and they 
gnashed on him with their teeth. 

55. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, 
looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw 
the glory of God, and Jesus standing on 
the right hand of God, 



56. And said, Behold, I see the heavens 
opened, and the Son of man standing on 
the right hand of God. 

57. Then they cried out with a loud 
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon 
him with one accord, 

58. And cast him out of the city, and 
stoned him : and the witnesses laid down 
their clothes at a young man's feet, whose 
name was Saul. 

59. And they stoned Stephen, calling 
upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive 
my spirit. 

60. And he kneeled down, and cried with 
a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge. And when he had said this, he fell 
asleep. 

1. And Saul was consenting unto his 
death. And at that time there was a great 
persecution against the church which was 
at Jerusalem ; and they were all scattered 
abroad throughout the regions of Judaea 
and Samaria, except the apostles. 

2. And devout men carried Stephen to 
his burial, and made great lamentation 
over him. 

3 As for Saul, he made havock of the 
church, entering into every house, and 
haling men and women committed them to 
prison. 

4. Therefore they that were scattered 
abroad went everywhere preaching the 
word. 



I. Growth and increase arouse anger again ; and another 
and severer persecution ensues, culminating in death. As 
yet, the spirit of persecution is awakened only among the 
Jews. The pagan Roman power takes no part in it. It will 
not be long, however, before it will intervene. At the same 
time that trial from without will be increasing, there will be 
a corresponding increase of trial from within. We have 
already met with Ananias and Sapphira ; we shall soon 
meet with Simon Magus ; then will come the " divisions " 
and " heresies " which " must be," x — not by God's appoint- 
ment, but through man's perverseness, — and so the epitome 
which the Church of the Apostolic age presents of the 
Church's story in all time will be complete. 

1 1 Cor. xi. 19. 



THE THIRD PERSECUTION. IO5 

2. Of the Jewish synagogues, it is impossible here to 
speak at length. If they did not arise during the Babylonish 
captivity, that long trial did at least give them form, influ- 
ence, and permanency. So far as we are concerned with 
them in connection with the Book of Acts, it may suffice to 
say that "the synagogue services consisted of certain sol- 
emn prayers, followed by lessees of Holy Scripture, — from 
the Law and the Prophets, according to a fixed order, — 
with addresses of explanation and exhortation. It is said 
that these prayers were composed by Ezra. They consisted 
originally of eighteen forms, including acts of confession, 
praise, supplication, and thanksgiving ; and to these a nine- 
teenth prayer was added in later times, apparently impre- 
cating God's wrath upon the followers of Christ. At all 
events, it is certain that they are very ancient." * This was 
undoubtedly the method of the synagogue service while our 
Lord was on earth ; and the narrative given by St. Luke, 
of what occurred in the synagogue at Nazareth (iv. 16-27), 
shows how scrupulously He governed Himself by the rules 
that regulated the ordinary service. 

3. It forms no part of the plan of these pages to enter on 
such a line of discussion as would be involved in stating and 
answering specific difficulties that have been raised concern- 
ing St. Stephen's defence before the sanhedrim. 2 But there 
are matters connected with this first martyrdom that should 
not be passed by. 

(a) The charge brought by St. Stephen's accusers resolves 
itself into a charge of blasphemy ; and the counts in it, so to 
speak, are two : first, " blasphemous words " against the 
temple, in that he prophesied its destruction ; secondly, 
against the law, in that he declared that "Jesus of Naza- 

1 Burbidge, Liturgies and Offices of the Churchy. 2; Prideaux, Connectio7is, etc., 
vol. i. pp. 358-376, ed. London, 1831. 

2 Those who desire to see these difficulties, and the answers made to them, are referred 
to the articles on St. Stephen, by the late Dean of Westminster and the Rev. Professor 
Gardiner, in the American edition of Smith's Bible Dictionary ; and to Bishop Words- 
worth's and Mr. Denton's Commentaries. 



106 THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 

reth" should "change the customs which Moses taught." 
The similarity between the charge against our blessed Lord 
and that made against the first martyr has been often 
noticed, and is obvious at a glance. 1 There is the same 
similarity in the testimony by which the charges were sus- 
tained. In both cases, there was false witness ; and " the 
falsehood of the witness consisted in taking words out of 
their context, and misrepresenting what, perhaps, totidem 
verbis, had actually been said." 

(b) The charge naturally shapes St. Stephen's defence, 
which was probably spoken in "the Hebrew tongue." We 
must observe here, (i) that the defence is not so much a 
defence of himself personally, as it is a vindication of his 
teaching ; (2) that he was charged with teaching that the 
temple would be destroyed and the law subverted, and that 
this falsely represented teaching involved, in the mind of 
his judges, blasphemy; (3) that he has in mind not merely 
the charge brought against himself, but also the convictions 
of those to whom he spoke, namely, that the Divine love 
and favor were confined to one nation, — their own, — and 
to one place, — Jerusalem and the temple; and that his ex- 
posure of the falsity of these convictions constitutes, there- 
fore, his personal defence. Bearing all this in mind, we 
have the clew to the speech, and are able to analyze it. 

" St. Stephen had taught, and he repeats the same teach- 
ing here, that the possession of the law given by God on 
Sinai, and of the covenant of circumcision made with 
Abraham, of the temple and of the land of promise, were 
not exclusive titles to the mercies and the protection of God ; 
that these were not of avail without the obedience of the 
heart ; that God required not sacrifice unless with it was 
contrition for sin, and active mercy, love towards our fellow- 
men. Although he acknowledges God to be the God of 
Abraham, whose son he himself is, yet he points out that 
God appeared unto . . . Abraham before the covenant of 

1 Compare Matt. xxvi. 61 ; Mark xiv. 58. 



THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 107 

circumcision had been given, whilst he was a stranger to 
Canaan, a dweller in a foreign land ; that He watched over 
and was with Joseph when, rejected by his brethren, he 
dwelt in a strange land ; that His providence regarded the 
patriarchs of the nation whilst they dwelt in Egypt, and were 
evil entreated by Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and that He 
blessed them there, though they dwelt far from the Holy 
Place. He then passes on to the life of the great lawgiver, 
and shows that Moses, though a fugitive and rejected by his 
brethren, — a type of that Prophet like unto Moses, who came 
nnto His oivn, and His own received Him not, — was yet 
chosen by God to be the deliverer and leader of His people. 
He shows them that though they made their boast of the law y 
yet no sooner had they received the law by the disposition of 
angels, than they broke the law and became idolaters, and 
worshipped Moloch and Remphan ; so that, whilst prior to 
the giving of the law of which they boasted, and without it, 
Abraham was drawn from the midst of idolatry, and was 
accepted by God, they, with the law in their hands, provoked 
God, and were in punishment carried away from their land, 
— the land of God, — '■ beyond Babylon. He tells them, that, 
though the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness had been 
fashioned after things in heaven and by command of God, 
yet this was only for a time, and in place of it David de- 
sired to build a temple, and Solomon was permitted to do 
so ; and that even this could not be the place of rest to Him 
who made the heavens His throne and earth His footstool, 
for the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. 
At this point, it would seem, St. Stephen was interrupted, 
probably by the outcries of the people ; and he turns to 
rebuke those who resisted the words, not of man, but of the 
Holy Ghost, and who had been the betrayers and murderers 
of the Just One, the Messiah, as their fathers had slain the 
prophets who foretold of His coming. 

" Here the fury of the people could be no longer restrained, 
and, refusing any longer to listen to his words, they hurried 



108 THE THIRD PERSECUTION. 

him to death. His speech, however, did not fall to the 
ground ; it sank into the heart of one of his persecutors, 
Saul of Tarsus, and bore fruit not only in his speedy conver- 
sion, but afterwards in the speeches which he made, and the 
epistles which he wrote to the churches which had been 
gathered together by him, or strengthened by his teaching. 
With more epigrammatic force than truth, St. Paul has been 
spoken of as a ' colossal St. Stephen/ since, judging from 
this speech, St. Stephen must have been a man of rare 
intellectual power. His influence on St. Paul is very marked ; 
and much of the Epistle to the Romans, and the whole 
Epistle to the Hebrews, is but an expansion and comment 
on this speech, oftentimes in the very words used by the first 
martyr." ' 

4. One can hardly fail to be struck with the brevity, the 
simplicity, and the freedom from harrowing details and pas- 
sionate expressions, which characterize the account of the 
martyrdom. And yet what a picture do its few words pre- 
sent to us, bringing together, as they do, "the heavenly 
places " with their abiding rest, and the world in which they 
who followed Christ were to " have tribulation " ! In heaven 
we see the Lord in " the glory of God the Father," standing 2 
at His right hand, ready to " succor all those who suffer for 
Him." On earth we behold a martyrdom, which, as it stands 
nearest in time to the awful Sacrifice on the cross, so it most 
nearly approaches it in its circumstances and surroundings. 
As the Lord prayed for His murderers, so did Stephen " the 
crowned one." 3 As the Son commended His spirit into 
the hands of His Father, so did His first martyr commend 
his into the hands of his Saviour and his God. 

5. A scattering abroad followed on the persecution, though 

1 This admirable analysis is from Denton's Commentary on Acts, vol. i. p. 195, ff. 

2 The accuracy with which the collect for St. Stephen's Day follows the words of 
Holy Scripture has often been commented on. 

3 Says Archbishop Trench, " The play upon Stephen's name is a very favorite one 
with the early Church writers, — the nomen et omen which lay in that name Stephen 
((7Te<£avos) for the first winner of the martyr's crown." 



THE THIRD PERSECUTION. IO9 

the Apostles did not leave Jerusalem. Sometimes God's 
scatterings are in judgment. Such was the scattering at 
Babel, and that of the ten tribes. So the name Jezreel was 
given to the son that Gomer bore to Hosea, 1 indicating the 
scattering in punishment soon to fall on Israel. But there 
is also a scattering which is not for punishment, but for sow- 
ing. So, in a later passage of Hosea, Israel is called Jezreel, 2 
because of the sowing of the Church, not in Judaea, but in 
the whole world. " Jews were the instruments. Of them, 
according to the flesh, Christ came ; of them were the Apos- 
tles, and Evangelists, and all writers of Holy Scripture ; of 
them was the Church first formed, into which the Gentiles 
were received, being, with them, knit into one in Christ." 3 

1 Hos. i. 4. 2 Hos. ii. 22. 3 Pusey, on Hosea in loc. 



no 



THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 



SECTION VII. 

THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 
{Chap. viii. 5-40.) 



5. Then Philip went down to the city of 
Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 

6. And the people with one accord gave 
heed unto those things which Philip spake, 
hearing and seeing the miracles which he 
did. 

7. For unclean spirits, crying with loud 
voice, came out of many that were pos- 
sessed with them: and many taken with 
palsies, and that were lame, were healed. 

8. And there was great joy in that city. 

9. But there was a certain man, called 
Simon, which beforetime in the same city 
used sorcery, and bewitched the people of 
Samaria, giving out that himself was some 
great one : 

10. To whom they all gave heed, from 
the least to the greatest, saying, This man 
is the great power of God. 

11. And to him they had regard, because 
that of long time he had bewitched them 
with sorceries. 

12. But when they believed Philip preach- 
ing the things concerning the kingdom of 
God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they 
were baptized, both men and women. 

13. Then Simon himself believed also: 
and when he was baptized, he continued 
with Philip, and wondered, beholding the 
miracles and signs which were done. 

14. Now when the apostles which were 
at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had re- 
ceived the word of God, they sent unto 
them Peter and John : 

15. Who, when they were come down, 
prayed for them, that they might receive 
the Holy Ghost : 

16. (For as yet he was fallen upon none 
of them : only they were baptized in the 
name of the Lord Jesus.) 

1 7. Then laid they their hands on them, 
and they received the Holy Ghost. 

18. And when Simon saw that through 



laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy 
Ghost was given, he offered them money, 

19. Saying, Give me also this power, that 
on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive 
the Holy Ghost. 

20. But Peter said unto him, Thy money 
perish with thee, because thou hast thought 
that the gift of God may be purchased with 
money. 

21. Thou hast neither part nor lot in 
this matter: for thy heart is not right in 
the sight of God. 

22. Repent therefore of this thy wicked- 
ness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought 
of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 

23. For I perceive that thou art in the 
gall of bitterness, and in the bond of ini- 
quity. 

24. Then answered Simon, and said, 
Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of 
these things which ye have spoken come 
upon me. 

25. And they, when they had testified and 
preached the word of the Lord, returned to 
Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many 
villages of the Samaritans. 

26. And the angel of the Lord spake 
unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward 
the south unto the way that goeth down 
from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 

27. And he arose and went : and, behold, 
a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great au- 
thority under Candace queen of the Ethio- 
pians, who had the charge of all her 
treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to 
worship, 

28. Was returning, and sitting in his 
chariot read Esaias the prophet. 

29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go 
near, and join thyself to this chariot. 

30. And Philip ran thither to him, and 
heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, 
Understandest thou what thou readest ? 



THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. I I I 

31. And lie said, How can I, except some 36. And as they went on their way, they 
man should guide me ? And he desired came unto a certain water : and the eunuch 
Philip that he would come up and sit with said, See, here is water ; what doth hinder 
him. me to be baptized ? 

32. The place of the scripture which he 37. And Philip said, If thou believest 
read was this, He was led as a sheep to the with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he 
slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his answered and said, I believe that Jesus 
shearer, so opened he not his mouth : Christ is the Son of God. 

2,2, In his humiliation his judgment was 38. And he commanded the chariot to 

taken away : and who shall declare his stand still ; and they went down both into 

generation ? for his life is taken from the the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and 

earth. he baptized him. 

34. And the eunuch answered Philip, 39. And when they were come up out of 
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught 
the prophet this ? of himself, or of some away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no 
other man ? more : and he went on his way rejoicing. 

35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and 40. But Philip was found at Azotus : and 
began at the same scripture, and preached passing through he preached in all the 
unto him Jesus. cities, till he came to Caesarea. 

i. Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the 
earth : such, according to our Lord's words, was the order 
of places in which the Apostles were to bear witness to 
Him. Jerusalem stands first, the central point from which 
the Church was to go forth. Judaea, with Jerusalem, may 
well seem to represent faithful Judah and Benjamin. Sama- 
ria, in some sort, represents the ten tribes ; for Ephraim 
was paramount among them, and the northern kingdom was 
at last really Ephraim, and is so spoken of in the prophecies ; 
while "the head of Ephraim is Samaria." x Beyond lay the 
Gentiles, to "the uttermost parts of the earth." The prog- 
ress of the Church was, therefore, a regular outward move- 
ment from a central point ; not a chance medley of sporadic 
movements, springing up here and there, no one knows how, 
and afterwards united in some way, no one knows what. 
The witness in Samaria, however, was not first borne by 
Apostles ; for, while others were scattered, they clearly re- 
mained in Jerusalem. Nor can there be any doubt that the 
Philip who preached and baptized in Samaria — i.e., the city 
of that name — was Philip the Deacon. 2 

2. Something has been already said concerning the charac- 
teristics of Apostolic preaching. Further light is shed upon 

1 Isa. vii. 2, 5, 8 ; Hos. xi. 3, 8, 9, 12. 2 See ante, sect. v. 



i 



112 THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 

this subject by the account here given us of the preaching of 
Philip. We are told first that he " preached Christ ; " and 
this is expanded into the statement that he preached "the 
things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of 
Jesus Christ." We are also told that at Ephesus St. Paul, 
preaching to Jews and Gentiles "repentance toward God, 
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," and declaring "all 
the counsel of God," preached for three years "the kingdom 
of God ; " and that at Rome, " for two whole years," he 
"received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom of 
God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord 
Jesus Christ." All this has been referred to before, and 
hardly needs to be dwelt on in any detail again. 

The Jew needed to be lifted up from the idea of an earthly 
to that of a spiritual kingdom ; to be taught the full breadth 
of the promise made to Abraham, " In thy Seed [which is 
Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," and to 
learn that " they which are of faith, the same are the children 
of Abraham." 1 The Gentiles had to be instructed in the 
character of that same covenant kingdom, which to them 
was indeed a "new creation." Jews and Gentiles alike must 
be taught concerning the " Name which is above every 
name," — the Name of Him who was to "save His people 
from their sins," from the punishment of their sins by the 
"redemption through His blood," and from the power of sin 
by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost sanctifying them to God. 
They must also be taught concerning the Anointed One, the 
Priest, the Prophet, and the King, " the Way, the Truth, and 
the Life." This teaching, accepted by the Samaritans, was, 
as ever, followed by their baptism, by which they became 
members of that covenant-kingdom of which Christ is the 
living Head. 

3. Something now appears which Philip, although he 
preached and baptized, was not competent to do. The 
Apostles, hearing at Jerusalem the tidings of the conversion 

1 Gen. xxii. 18 ; Gal. Hi. 7-9. 






THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. II3 

of the Samaritans, sent down Peter and John to lay their 
hands on those who had been baptized. 

Had St. Peter been invested by our Lord with supreme 
authority over the whole Church, including his brethren in 
the apostolate, this sending by the Apostles would be a 
strange anomaly. Surely it would have been his duty to 
send, and he might well and rightly have refused to be sent. 
We have here, therefore, one of the many incidental proofs, 
— all the more valuable because they are incidental, — that 
neither he nor the other Apostles recognized any such posi- 
tion as has been claimed for him. 

Precisely what is meant by the words, " Who, when they 
were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive 
the Holy Ghost ; for as yet He was fallen upon none of them, 
only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus " ? 
Are we to understand that the inward gift had not been 
received by them, or that they had not manifested its recep- 
tion by outward, visible, or audible signs ? The expression, 
" as yet He was fallen upon none of them," contains, it is 
believed, the clew to the answers to these questions. In the 
account of St. Peter's interview with Cornelius and his 
friends, we are told that "the Holy Ghost fell on all them 
which heard the word," immediately upon which they spake 
with tongues, and magnified God. Again, in St. Peter's 
account given at Jerusalem in justification of what he had 
done in Caesarea, he says, "As I began to speak, the Holy 
Ghost fell on them as on tis at the beginning" namely, with 
sensible miraculous accompaniments. 1 All this seems to 
warrant us in thinking that "the gift of the Holy Ghost 
[here mentioned] was not that which is regenerating, and 
necessary to pardon and satisfaction (else all these baptized 
persons must be supposed till so long after unpardoned), but 
it was that extraordinary gift, which was for the first sealing 

1 Acts x. 44, 46, xi. 15. The Greek word is all along some form of the verb l-nvniitna. 
Comp. Acts xix. 6. " This outward evidence of the gift of the Spirit has been alleged as 
a reason why in the primitive Church the chrism was not used in Confirmation." 



114 THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 

and propagating the gospel, of which others could be dis- 
cerning judges (such as languages, prophesies, healings, 
miracles, etc.), which they were not of sincere inward 
holiness." * 

This gives rise to another question : Are we to conclude 
that the action here spoken of, the laying-on of hands, was 
only occasional and temporary ? Or had it a meaning and a 
place apart and aside from those sensibly miraculous mani- 
festations which then accompanied it ? 

That such manifestations did accompany it here, and in 
the instance recorded in the nineteenth chapter of this book; 
is unquestioned. But these facts, even when we take into 
account the cessation of such manifestations in after years, 
cannot be admitted as sufficient to settle the question in the 
negative. If this position is assumed, it will prove a great 
deal too much ; for, since miraculous manifestations then 
accompanied prayer, preaching, and even the singing of 
hymns, we should be compelled to conclude that they too 
— and they are only mentioned as a few instances out of 
many — were occasional and temporary, and must cease 
when the accompanying manifestations ended. Indeed, 
under such a ruling it is difficult to see what would become 
of Christianity itself. 

In both cases where the laying-on of hands is mentioned 
in the Acts, it follows immediately upon baptism. It is also 
to be observed, that it is administered by three represent- 
ative Apostles, — Peter, an Apostle finally of the circum- 
cision ; Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles ; and John, the 
Apostle, so to speak, of the reconciliation. Unless, there- 
fore, some stronger objection can be brought than the one 
in limine just noticed, there is no reason why the ordinance 
should not be regarded as one of permanent and continuous 
use. 

Is there, on the other hand, any reason why it should be 
so regarded ? If we turn to the sixth chapter of the 

1 Baxter : Notes 071 the New Testament. 



THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 115 

Epistle to the Hebrews, we shall find certain " first princi- 
ples " set forth, which constitute the foundation of Christian 
life and character ; and from which we are exhorted to " go 
on unto completeness." It is not necessary to notice here 
more than four of the six first principles enumerated; i.e., 
repentance, faith, baptisms, and the laying-on of hands. It 
is obvious enough, that, in the Apostolic administration of 
the Church, repentance and faith were the pre-requisites for 
baptism, and that baptism was universally administered as 
the sacrament of adoption. Nor do any who claim the name 
of Christian, deny or doubt that in all time, even to the 
world's end, these internal preparations are necessary, and 
this divine ordinance is to be administered. 

What, now, shall we say of that which in this enumera- 
tion follows baptism, — "the laying-on of hands " ? It surely 
cannot be supposed that into an enumeration of things 
which must always have their place in any and every Chris- 
tian life, and in connection with an ordinance which is con- 
fessedly permanent and continuous, another ordinance should 
be, without any warning or explanation, introduced, which 
is only occasional and temporary. As little can it be sup- 
posed that the laying-on of hands here spoken of can be that 
used in the miraculous restoration of the sick, or in ordaining 
to the Christian ministry. The absurd impossibility of such 
a view, when one remembers the subject-matter of the enu- 
meration, — i.e., the foundations of each Christian life, — is 
evident at a glance. What is there left but that laying-on of 
hands which Sts. Peter and John ministered in Samaria, and 
which St. Paul ministered at Ephesus ? 

That such was the view taken by the undivided Church of 
Christ, is evident from the universal practice of fifteen cen- 
turies. Questions may have been raised as to who was to 
administer it, as to who should receive it, as to the ceremo- 
nies which should accompany it ; but the rite itself remained 
till it was dropped from his discipline by the autocrat of 
Geneva. Till then, Jerome's words were true of all parts of 



Il6 THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 

the Church : "the bishop went forth, and laid his hands on 
those who had been baptized by presbyters and deacons." l 

4. We are told that the Samaritans were baptized "in the 
Name of the Lord Jesus ; " in the second chapter, St. Peter 
commands those who were pricked in their heart to " be bap- 
tized in the Name of Jesus Christ ; " and, in the nineteenth 
chapter, those persons at Ephesus who had been baptized 
" unto John's baptism . . . were baptized in the Name of 
the Lord Jesus." Are we, therefore, to understand that the 
Apostles and others did not baptize "in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost " ? It is 
extremely improbable, that, after our Lord's solemn charge, 
they should have changed the form He gave them ; and the 
circumstances connected with the baptism at Ephesus, above 
referred to, amount almost to a demonstration that they did 
not. When the " certain disciples " said to the Apostle, " We 
have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy 
Ghost," he asks them, in evident surprise, " Unto what then 
were ye baptized ? " He clearly imagines that they could 
not have been baptized without hearing of the Holy Ghost. 
And this not only proves that our Lord's words must have 
been those used in baptism, but it also throws light upon 
the statement immediately following : " When they heard this 
they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus." We 
are warranted, therefore, in believing that the expression is a 
brief way of speaking of the entire form, just as believing 
in Jesus includes believing, also, in the Father and the Holy 
Ghost. Or we may say, with Ambrose and Basil, that bap- 
tism in the Name of Jesus Christ means the baptism insti- 
tuted by Christ the Lord, as distinguished from that of 
John. 2 

5. The case of Simon the sorcerer presents several points 
— one of special practical importance — for consideration; 

1 Jerome, Cont. Lucif., c. iv. 

2 Ambrose, De Spiritu Sancto, i. 3 ; Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, c. 12. Compare Jus- 
tin Martyr, Apology, i. 61. See, also, Moberly, Forty Days, pp. 206-209 ; and App., 
p. 289. 



THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 117 

though it is not worth while to go into details of his history, 
which is, after all, uncertain, and largely legendary. We 
are concerned with him only as he appears here, with his 
character and his sin. He was a Samaritan by birth, and a 
sorcerer by trade. Whether he really believed himself to be 
all that he seems to have claimed to be, and that his deluded 
followers believed him to be, may be doubted. The Samari- 
tans, we are told, called the angels "the powers of God ; " 
and the text, fully translated, shows that they regarded 
Simon as " that power of God which is called the great 
one," namely, the great angel. 

The sin of Simon, like that of Ananias and Sapphira, was 
an outcome of that "love of money," which St. Paul tells us 
is "the root of all evil." ■ How truly were his other words 
fulfilled in those three unhappy persons : "which, while some 
have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and 
pierced themselves through with many sorrows " ! How 
striking is the fact that the earliest blots on the fair record 
of the Church should have come from one — and that a 
common — form of that "covetousness which is idolatry " ! 2 
In the instances of Ananias and Sapphira, the outcome was 
the sin of Achan, — sacrilege. In that of Simon, 3 it was the 
sin of Esau, of Balaam, of Gehazi, and of Judas Iscariot ; 
with only this difference, that in his case the attempted 
traffic failed, while in the others it was accomplished. All 
this gives us a deep and awful view of the power and extent 
of that concupiscence which "lusteth always contrary to 
the spirit," and comes under the prohibition of the Tenth 
Commandment. 

The indignant and even awful words of St. Peter, addressed 
to Simon, while they distinctly declare the depths of his 

1 1 Tim. vi. 10. 

2 Col. iii. 5. 

3 Simony, named from Simon Magus, is the crime of obtaining orders or benefices, in 
a word, any position which entitles to the administration of spiritual gifts, by money, 
subserviency, or flattery. It puts temporal things over against spiritual, and regards 
the one as equivalent to the other. It is, therefore, a profanation. 



Il8 THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 

sin, and the depravity of his heart, still hold out hope of 
forgiveness, and the possibility of repentance. Our Lord 
Himself had said "that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in His name among all nations." ■ It 
was not that repentance, and a promise annexed to it, had 
never been heard of before. " The law included a general 
promise of pardon to the people when in captivity, in case 
of their national repentance; 2 the pardon to comprehend 
a restoration to their land. The prophets addressed the 
individual, and guaranteed the promise to every soul turn- 
ing from the error of his ways. 3 The law in this point 
regards the nation as the object of grace. The prophets do 
more : they descend to the interests of personal religion." 4 

The power of repentance, then, its place not only in the 
life of the Jewish nation, but in every individual life, were 
known before the Lord came. But when the Son of man 
was revealed as having "power on earth to forgive sins;" 5 
when He spoke of the "joy in heaven over one sinner that 
repenteth ; " 6 when the commission was imparted, " Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re- 
mitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are 
retained," 7 — then, and thenceforth, men were to hear as 
the ages rolled on, not merely the promise of forgiveness, 
however great that promise might be, but the very voice of 
the God-man saying, "Thy sins be forgiven, go in peace." 

Again, St. Peter's words declare the possibility of forgive- 
ness, even of very grievous post-baptismal sin, and there- 
fore the possibility of repentance for such sin. We may 
not lessen or extenuate the guilt of sin wilfully committed 
against the light and grace which belong to the baptized. 
We may not forget that Baptism, rightly received, is the 
one complete absolution in this life, — " one Baptism for 
the remission of sins." Grace despised, conscience silenced, 

1 Luke xxiv. 47. s Matt. ix. 6. 

2 Deut. xxx. 1-6 ; compare Neh. i. 8, 9. 6 Luke xv. 7, 10. 

3 Ezek. xviii. ; Isa. lWi. 15-18. 7 John xx. 22, 23. 

4 Davison : Discourses on Prophecy, p. 61. 



THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. I 19 

evil deliberately chosen, — all these things enter into wilful 
sin committed after baptism. And yet, even for this, unless 
St. Peter deceived the wretched sorcerer with unreal words, 
there may be repentance and forgiveness. So wide, so free, 
is the great mercy of God ! 

There are, in the New Testament, three passages which 
can hardly fail to suggest themselves in connection with 
this most solemn subject. The first is the declaration of 
our Lord himself : " Wherefore I say unto you, All manner 
of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ; but the 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven 
unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the 
Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh 
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither 
in this world nor in the world to come." ■ One sin, then, 
there plainly is for which there can be no forgiveness. This 
is not the place for inquiring what the sin against the 
Holy Ghost is, since it clearly is not the sin of Simon. 
We may, however, observe that it is committed not merely 
"by interpretation in our actions, but directly in our words 
and expressions." It is expressly called speaking "against 
the Holy Ghost." 2 

The second passage occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews : 
" It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and 
have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers 
of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, 
and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall 
away, to renew them again to repentance." 3 It is curious 
to observe the totally different conclusions that have been 
drawn from this passage. 

In the early Church, the Montanists and Novatians drew 
from it the conclusion that no sin committed after baptism 

1 Matt. xii. 31, 32. 

2 Kettlewell, Measures of Christian Obedience, Book V. c. vi. Augustine held that 
no one can be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost so long as life lasts. Scrmo 
Ixxii., 3, 2-i . 

3 Heb. vi. 4-6. The word translated "fall away " is na.pa.Trecroi'Tas. 



120 THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 

could be forgiven ; and this led to the indefinite delay of 
baptism in individual cases. On this error the Church set 
her sentence of condemnation. It was, however, practically 
revived at the time of the Reformation, by the Anabaptists, 
against whom the sixteenth of the Articles of Religion is 
directed. 

Another conclusion drawn from this same passage was 
that those who had really and effectually received the Holy 
Spirit (and none could receive it but such as were arbitra- 
rily elected to life eternal) could not fall away. This idea, 
being formulated, was the doctrine of final perseverance, 
one of the five points of Calvinism. And this is also 
denied in the article above referred to. 1 

The third passage is found in the First Epistle of St. 
John : " There is a sin unto death ; I do not say that he shall 
pray for it." 2 Here we must observe, in regard to the char- 
acter of the sin, that it is a state of the soul which manifests 
itself not so much in any specific act or acts, as such, but 
in an open, notorious, and persistent evil life, which is the 
" revelation of the moral life." Such a service of sin is 
slavery to it, and the wages of such sin is death. Such was, 
in regard to temporal punishments, the condition of the 
house of Eli, 3 and of the people for whom Jeremiah was for- 
bidden to intercede. 4 We shall be safe in saying that wilful 
and continuous impenitence is beyond pardon ; but it will be 
wise, also, to say with Origen, " What kind of sins are sins 
to death, what not to death but to loss, cannot easily be 
determined by any man." 5 

6. The Ethiopian eunuch, 6 the account of whose conver-. 

1 Our English version makes it possible to imagine that an impossible thing is 
supposed in the words " if they shall fall away." The original Greek allows no such 
interpretation. 

2 i John v. 16. 3 l Sam. ii. 25, hi. 14. 4 Jer. vii. 16, xi. 14, xiv. 11, xv. 1, 2. 

5 Westcott, The Epistles of St. John, in loc. and p. 199. 

6 The same appellation is given to Potiphar in the LXX., Gen. xxxvii. 36, xxxix. 1. 
It probably means no more here than it does there ; i.e., a confidential minister in high 
position. Pliny tells us that Candace was a name common to queens of the region 
spoken of, as Pharaoh was to the sovereigns of Egypt. 



THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 121 

sion immediately follows the story of the wretched sorcerer, 
stands out in marked and happy contrast with him who had 
" neither part nor lot " in the Word. He was a proselyte, 
and very probably a proselyte of righteousness, a Jew in all 
but race, and, as such, read with reverent care the Jewish 
Scriptures, not doubtless in the Hebrew tongue, but in that 
language which was then world-wide, the Greek, and in that 
version which we now call the Septuagint. 

The passage read was the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, — 
beautifully called the " Golden Passional " of the evangelic 
prophet ; and this was the " place of the Scripture " which 
Philip, following the example of our Lord in the walk to 
Emmaus, " opened " to his hearer. Who can doubt what, in 
"preaching Jesus" from that passage, Philip taught his 
hearer, if, as surely was the case, he unfolded the meaning 
of that wonderful prophecy respecting Christ ? " For this 
prophecy declares His incarnation and life of humiliation ; 
His death contrary to justice ; His resurrection, by which the 
death contrary to justice was reversed ; His ascension to 
the right hand of power, and the future rule and judgment 
which He shall exercise over mankind." * 

Unbelieving criticism halts and stumbles at the application 
of Isaiah's words to Christ. But are we to suppose that the 
Divine guidance which sent Philip on the road to Gaza, and 
bade him draw near to the Ethiopian, and withdrew him 
when his work was done, deserted him and left him to him- 
self in his exposition of God's word and his teaching to the 
proselyte ? Of course human perversity is capable of this 
or any other absurdity. But one who reads with an open 
mind and a humble heart, remembering also that our Lord 
Himself, " beginning at Moses and all the prophets, expounded 
unto " the two disciples, " in all the scriptures the things 
concerning Himself," will say as St. Clement does when he 
quotes the passage, " Our Lord Jesus Christ, the sceptre of 
the Majesty of God, came not in the arrogance of boasting 

1 Denton, A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, vol. i. p. 292. 



122 THE MISSION TO SAMARIA. 

and pride, though He was able to do so ; but in humility, 
even as the Holy Spirit spake concerning Him." ■ 

The question, " What doth hinder me to be baptized ? " 
indicates also that Philip in preaching Jesus had taught how 
those who believed were to be discipled into the Lord. We 
may also — though it is a matter of vastly less importance — 
notice, in passing, that if the words translated " went down 
into the water" and "were come up out of the water," neces- 
sarily imply immersion, then Philip must have been immersed 
as well as the Ethiopian, since the words are spoken of both ; 
while, if they do not necessarily imply the immersion of 
the Evangelist-Deacon, neither can they be insisted on in the 
case of his companion. 

1 Epistle to the Corinthians, c. xvi. 



PART IV. 

THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE 
GENTILES. 



Part 3EU. 

(Chapters IX. to XII. inclusive.) 

SECTION I. 

THE CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
{Chap. ix. I-J2.) 



1. And Saul, yet breathing out threaten- 
ings and slaughter against the disciples of 
the Lord, went unto the high priest, 

2. And desired of him letters to Damas- 
cus to the synagogues, that if he found any 
of this way, whether they were men or 
women, he might bring them bound unto 
Jerusalem. 

3. And as he journeyed, he came near 
Damascus : and suddenly there shined 
round about him a light from heaven : 

4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a 
voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me ? 

5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? 
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou 
persecutest : it is hard for thee to kick 
against the pricks. 

6. And he trembling and astonished said, 
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? And 
the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into 
the city, and it shall be told thee what thou 
must do. 

7. And the men which journeyed with 
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but 
seeing no man. 

8. And Saul arose from the earth ; and 
when his eyes were opened, he saw no man : 
but they led him by the hand, and brought 
him unto Damascus. 

9. And he was three days without sight, 
and neither did eat nor drink. 

10. \ And there was a certain disciple 
at Damascus, named Ananias ; and to him 
said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And 
he said, Behold, 1 am here, Lord. 

11. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, 



and go into the street which is called 
Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas 
for one called Saul, of Tarsus : for, behold, 
he prayeth, 

12. And hath seen in a vision a man 
named Ananias coming in, and putting his 
hand on him, that he might receive his 
sight. 

13. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I 
have heard by many of this man, how 
much evil he hath done to thy saints at 
Jerusalem : 

14. And here he hath authority from the 
chief priests to bind all that call on thy 
name. 

15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy 
way : for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to 
bear my name before the Gentiles, and 
kings, and the children of Israel : 

16. For I will shew him how great things 
he must suffer for my name's sake. 

17. And Ananias went his way, and en- 
tered into the house ; and putting his hands 
on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even 
Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way 
as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou 
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled 
with the Holy Ghost. 

18. And immediately there fell from his 
eyes as it had been scales ; and he received 
sight forthwith, and arose, and was bap- 
tized. 

19. And when he had received meat, he 
was strengthened. Then was Saul certain 
days with the disciples which were at 
Damascus. 

20. And straightway he preached Christ 



125 



126 CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

in the synagogues, that he is the Son of disciples : but they were all afraid of him, 

God. and believed not that he was a disciple. 

21. But all that heard him were amazed, 27. But Barnabas took him, and brought 
and said ; Is not this he that destroyed him to the apostles, and declared unto them 
them which called on this name in Jerusa- how he had seen the Lord in the way, and 
lem, and came hither for that intent, that that he had spoken to him, and how he had 
he might bring them bound unto the chief preached boldly at Damascus in the name 
priests? of Jesus. 

22. But Saul increased the more in 28. And he was with them coming in and 
strength, and confounded the Jews which going out at Jerusalem. 

dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very 29. And he spake boldly in the name of 

Christ. the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the 

23. ^[ And after that many days were Grecians : but they went about to slay him. 
fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him : 30. Which when the brethren knew, they 

24. But their laying await was known of brought him down to Caesarea, and sent 
Saul. And they watched the gates day and him forth to Tarsus. 

night to kill him. 31. Then had the churches rest through- 

25. Then the disciples took him by night, out all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and 
and let him down by the wall in a basket. were edified ; and walking in the fear of the 

26. And when Saul was come to Jerusa- Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, 
lem, he assayed to join himself to the were multiplied. 

i. "Saul, who is also called Paul," has already been seen 
by us as the one at whose feet the witnesses against St. 
Stephen " laid down their clothes," and who was " consent- 
ing " to the first martyr's death. This passive, or compara- 
tively passive, attitude, is now exchanged for one of active 
persecution. Up to this time we have seen Saul as a 
"Pharisee, the son of Pharisees;" trained by Gamaliel, 
"the glory of the law;" a "Hebrew of the Hebrews;" 
"touching the law, blameless;" a zealot for all the tradi- 
tions and ordinances of his fathers ; and, consequently, 
scorning, with a scorn which only such a man could know, 
Jesus of Nazareth, His disciples, and the faith they held 
and taught. 

But now the scorn deepens into hatred, and the hatred 
becomes active persecution, and Saul ravages the Church ; 
drags men and women to prison, and gives his voice for put- 
ting them to death ; breathes out threatening and slaughter 
against the disciples ; compels them to blaspheme, and perse- 
cutes them even to strange cities. It is a frightful picture, and 
one cannot wonder that it recurred again and again to the 
Apostle's mind with all its memories of cruelty and blood. 



CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 127 

Do we not sometimes see something quite analogous to 
this in other lives than that of Saul ? We are told that the 
Emperor Julian once said, speaking of the Faith to a Chris- 
tian bishop, " I was ignorant about it, I knew it, I rejected 
it ; " and the bishop replied, " You were ignorant about it, 
but you never knew it ; for, had you known it, you would not 
have rejected it." Similar instances are not infrequent in 
our own time. Many a man has taken up with some im- 
perfect and distorted view of Christianity, and, when he has 
become convinced of its unreality, has become first a scorner 
and then a hater of that which he supposes himself to have 
tried and found wanting. Many another has taken up with 
one of those "half gospels" which are winning adherents 
on all sides, and has reached the same result. Sometimes 
the hatred takes on the form of actual persecution ; at other 
times — just now, more commonly — it works itself out in 
serious or ribald denunciation of the Christian Faith. In 
all cases the root of the scorn, hatred, or denunciation is to 
be found in ignorance and misapprehension. Meantime, no 
form of unbelief is more difficult to deal with. 

2. There are in the Book of Acts three separate accounts 
of the conversion of St. Paul : (i) St. Luke's narrative in 
this place, (2) the Apostle's own account in his address to the 
mob in Jerusalem, and (3) his fuller statement in his speech 
before Agrippa. The three should be read together, and 
may very well be considered here. 

Those who are anxious to find contradictions and discre- 
pancies in Holy Scripture have discovered two such in these 
several accounts of St. Paul's conversion. In the first place, 
it is alleged, that whereas, in this ninth chapter, St. Luke 
affirms that " the men who journeyed with him stood speech- 
less," the Apostle in his defence before Agrippa says, "and 
when we were all fallen to the earth." When, however, we 
remember that the Greek word translated stood is frequently 
used to signify merely cessation of motion, 1 the difficulty 

1 Any ordinary lexicon. 



128 CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

vanishes. They stopped, and fell to the ground. No special 
position is indicated. 

Again, it is objected that Luke says here, that those who 
journeyed with St. Paul were " hearing a voice;" while he 
himself, in his defence before the mob in Jerusalem, says, 
"they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me." Had 
these words occurred anywhere but in Holy Scripture, it is 
not likely that any question would have been raised about 
them. They heard the sound of a voice, but not its 
articulate speech. 

3. A use has been sometimes made of the conversion 
of Saul, which neither Scripture nor right reason warrants. 
Saul's condition of disbelief in Jesus as the Messiah and the 
Son of God was, immediately on the sight of " the heavenly 
vision," exchanged for one of belief. But it was not an 
instant passage from the depths of- sin to the height of 
holiness in his personal character. That he had sinned, and 
sinned deeply, in persecuting the Church of God, who could 
have felt more than he did ? The sense of it was a burden 
that he bore through all his life ; and it not only brought to 
his lips the cry, " I am the least of the Apostles, that am 
not meet to be called an Apostle," but it doubtless entered 
into that deepest of all confessions, " sinners, of whom I am 
chief." 

In thinking, however, of these last-quoted words, we must 
not forget that none have ever had so deep a sense of sin, 
as those who have reached the greatest heights of holiness ; 
and that this, probably, lies at the foundation of St. Paul's 
startling confession. Assuredly his life before his conver- 
sion had not been a life of careless, thoughtless indulgence, 
far less a life of wilful sin. He does not so speak of himself, 
nor does any thing we can learn of him warrant any such 
conclusion. On the contrary, in his address to the Sanhe- 
drim ■ he says, " I have lived in all good conscience before 
God until this day." At the same time he always speaks of 

1 Acts xxiii. 1. 



CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 120, 

himself as going onward, not looking back upon any thing 
already done, not even upon his conversion, but "pressing 
toward the mark ; " running as not uncertainly, fighting not 
as one that beateth the air ; striving if by any means he 
"might attain to the resurrection of the dead." 

All this is utterly inconsistent with any idea that the work 
of and for St. Paul, in his character and life, was all done at 
once, "in the twinkling of an eye," in his conversion. And 
the theory that not only was this the character of the 
Apostle's conversion, but that it is also the model and norm 
for the conversion of all who are really Christians, has 
wrought more mischief to human souls than all the indul- 
gences with which Roman greed has pretended to sell the 
grace of God for money. 

4. If any man might hold himself excused from the observ- 
ance of an established Christian ordinance, surely St. Paul 
might. With his bodily eye he had seen the Lord Jesus ; 
with his bodily ear he had listened to His words ; on him had 
fallen blindness because of " the glory of that light ; " by 
the touch of a human hand, divinely commissioned for the 
work, his sight had been restored, and he had been " filled 
with the Holy Ghost." May we not suppose that such an 
one is placed beyond the obligation which, in reference to 
any ordinances, rests on ordinary believers ? Is he to stand 
on the same level with all others in this regard, — nay, with 
Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus ? His own words 
answer these questions. The same voice that said to him, 
"Brother Saul, receive thy sight," said also, "Arise, and be 
baptized, and wash away thy sins. . . . And immediately he 
was baptized." If words have any meaning, these words, 
taken with St. Peter's exhortation, "be baptized every one of 
you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins," 
do clearly connect such remission with holy baptism, and do, 
therefore, also connect holy baptism with the words of the 
Lord, "that repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached, in His Name, among all nations." This will proba- 



I30 CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

bly be denied by none but those who arrogate to themselves 
the name of " Bible Christians," under which appellation they 
seem to claim for themselves the right to deal with God's 
Word pretty much as they please. 

5. Either between the first and second sentences in ver. 
19, or else between vv. 19 and 20, a period intervenes 
concerning which St. Luke is entirely silent. Indeed, we 
should have known nothing of it, had not St. Paul in the 
Epistle to the Galatians, and in his defence against those 
who disparaged his apostleship, mentioned it. It appears, 
then, from Gal. i. 17, that St. Paul immediately after his 
conversion " went into Arabia, and returned again unto 
Damascus ; " and, further, that three years elapsed after his 
conversion before he "went up to Jerusalem." 

How much of this period was spent in Arabia, and how 
much at Damascus, we cannot determine. We are told, 
indeed, that after his return the Apostle " preached Christ 
in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God," and, also, 
that " after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel 
to kill him." The expression "many days" might seem to 
intimate that the greater part o£ the three years was spent 
in Damascus. But, on the other hand, when we remember 
that the words translated " many days " x do not necessarily 
imply a great length of time, and might as well be rendered 
" a considerable period," it is clear that no decisive conclu- 
sion can be grounded on them. It may very well be, 
therefore, that a good part of the three years was passed in 
that silent retirement, in which St. Paul received the gospel 
which he preached, not from man 2 " but by revelation of 
Jesus Christ;" being thus placed 3 "not a whit behind the 
very chiefest Apostles," in that he had been taught by the 
risen Lord, what they had learned from the same Lord both 
before His death and after His resurrection. 

If this be so, what a reproof is here ministered to those 
who, by short cuts and with hasty preparation, would thrust 

2 Gal. i. 11, 12. 3 2 Cor. xi. 5. 



CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. I3I 

themselves into Holy Orders ; what an even stronger reproof 
to those who, in whatever station, help on such a hurrying 
process, and condone such an imperfect preparation ! Men 
cannot now go into some Arabia, there to meet the Lord face 
to face for their instruction ; but they can withdraw to give 
time and thought and study to the " Word of God." 

Whither St. Paul turned his steps in going to Arabia, we 
do not know. The mere name settles nothing. Nor is there 
any thing forbidding us to suppose that it is the same Arabia 
which the Apostle had in mind when he said of Hagar 
the bondwoman (the type of the old covenant, as Sarah the 
free woman was of the new), " this Hagar is Mount Sinai in 
Arabia," x while there is much to say in support of the 
supposition. " For if we suppose that the Apostle at this 
critical moment betook himself to the Sinaitic peninsula, 
the scene of the giving of the law, then his visit to Arabia 
becomes full of meaning. He was attracted thither by a 
spirit akin to that which formerly had driven Elijah to the 
same region. Standing on the threshold of the new cove- 
nant, he was anxious to look upon the birthplace of the old ; 
that dwelling for a while in seclusion in the presence of ' the 
mount that burned with fire/ he might ponder over the tran- 
sient glories of the * ministration of death/ and apprehend 
its real purpose in relation to the more glorious covenant 
which was now to supplant it. Here, surrounded by the 
children of the desert, the descendants of Hagar the bond- 
woman, he read the true meaning and power of the law. In 
the rugged and barren region whence it issued, he saw a 
fit type of that bleak desolation which it created, and was 
intended to create, in the soul of man. In the midst of such 
scenes and associations, his spirit was attuned to harmony 
with his divine mission, and fitted to receive fresh ' visions 
and revelations of the Lord/ Thus in the wilderness of 
Sinai, as on the Mount of the Transfiguration, the three dis- 
pensations met in one. Here Moses had received the tables 

1 Gal. iv. 250 



132 CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

of the law amid fire and tempest and thick darkness. Here 
again Elijah, the typical prophet, listened to the voice of 
God, and sped forth refreshed on his mission of righteous- 
ness. And here lastly, in the fulness of time, St. Paul, the 
greatest preacher of Him of whom both the law and the 
prophets spoke, was strengthened and sanctified for his great 
work, was taught the breadth as well as the depth of the 
riches of God's wisdom, and transformed from the champion 
of a bigoted and narrow tradition into the large-hearted 
Apostle of the Gentiles." ' 

The question has been asked, Why does St. Luke omit 
in his history what St. Paul introduces into his Epistles, i.e., 
the mention of the time spent in Arabia ? Such questions 
are not, as a rule, very profitable; but it does not seem 
difficult to answer this one. The purpose of the Book of 
Acts is not biographical, or in any sense personal. What is 
necessary in order to tell the story of the way in which the 
Lord's commands were carried out, the Faith propagated, and 
the Church established, that is told. Beyond that, personal 
details are very rarely given. It was the Gloriosissima Civi- 
tas Dei — the most glorious City of God — that was in the 
writer's mind, and not the personal history of those who 
were chosen by the Lord to labor in the building. That 
personal history, then, appears only so far as such a narra- 
tive requires. 

On the other hand, in the Epistle to the Galatians, St. 
Paul is vindicating his apostolate from the attacks of those 
who disparaged it ; and he is compelled in so doing to assert 
that his apostleship came to him from no human source, nor 
by any human agency ; and, further, that the same thing is 
true of the gospel which he preached, and which he was 
taught only "by revelation of Jesus Christ." 2 In proving this 
he naturally, and almost necessarily, mentions that seclusion 
from men in Arabia, when he, like Moses, spake with the 
Angel Jehovah "face to face." In view of these facts it is 

1 Bishop Lightfoot, Epistle to the Galatians, p. 88. 2 Gal. i. n, 12. 



CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 1 33 

not difficult to understand the silence of the Acts, and the 
breaking of the silence in the Epistle to the Galatians. 

6. The visit to Jerusalem here recorded was undoubtedly 
the first made by St. Paul after his conversion. It is, also, 
the same spoken of in Gal. i. 18, 19, and the manner of the 
Apostle's escape from Damascus is mentioned in 2 Cor. xi. 33. 
It would seem that the Damascene Jews enlisted the service 
of Aretas, the father-in-law of Herod Antipas, to secure St. 
Paul at the gates of the city. 1 Escaping their vigilance, he 
goes up to Jerusalem, his special purpose being to converse 
with St. Peter. Barnabas, knowing, apparently, what was 
not as yet known to the body of the disciples (who naturally 
distrusted the persecuting Saul, whose violence they well 
remembered), brought him to the Apostles Peter and "James 
the Lord's brother." Quite probably the other Apostles 
were absent from Jerusalem ; at all events, he saw none of 
them. His visit was, indeed, a short one, of only " fifteen 
days ; " being brought to an end by the conspiracy against 
his life. This resulted in his flight to Cassarea, the civil 
capital of Palestine, and to Tarsus his native city. 

St. Paul's special and personal purpose in this visit was to 
"become acquainted" with St. Peter. 2 The word used in 
the original implies no inequality between the two apostles. 
Any admission of such inequality would be fatal to St. Paul's 
vindication of his apostolate in the first chapter of his 
Epistle to the Galatians ; and would destroy all the force of 
his assertion that James, Cephas, and John " in conference 
added nothing to him." Nor is it difficult to see why St. 
Paul should desire to communicate with his brother Apostle. 
It is hardly conceivable that in the revelations and instruc- 
tions which he received in his retirement in Arabia, he 
should not have learned that " God made choice " that by 
Peter's "mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the 

1 " Let down by the wall in a basket ; " here it is kv vnvplhi : in 2 Cor. xi. it is £v o-apydvy. 
The first word seems to indicate the use to which the basket was put, i.e., to carry- 
something ; the second, the mode of its construction, i.e., of twigs or rope. 

2 Gal. i. 18, io-Toprjcrcu KrjQcLv. See Ellicott in loco. 



134 CONVERSION OF SAUL, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

gospel, and believe." l What, then, could be more natural 
than that St. Paul to whom the Lord had said, " I have 
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister 
and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and 
of those things in the which I will appear unto thee ; deliv- 
ering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom 
I now send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from 
darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, 
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance 
among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me," 2 — 
what could be more natural, than that the Apostle to whom 
this was said should desire to know and converse with that 
other Apostle who had been commissioned to open the door 
to the Gentiles ? The result of this and later communica- 
tions was, that James, Cephas, and John went to the circum- 
cision, while Paul and Barnabas went to the heathen. 3 

1 Acts xv. 7; comp. Matt. xvi. 19. 2 Acts xxvi. 16-18. 3 Gal. i. 9. 



TRAVELS AND LABORS OF ST. PETER. 



135 



SECTION II. 

TRAVELS AND LABORS" OF ST. PETER. 
{Chap. ix. 32-43) 



32. ^[ And it came to pass, as Peter 
passed throughout all quarters, he came 
down also to the saints which dwelt at 
Lydda. 

23- And there he found a certain man 
named yEneas, which had kept his bed 
eight years, and was sick of the palsy. 

34. And Peter said unto him, iEneas, 
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and 
make thy bed. And he arose immediately. 

35. And all that dwelt at Lydda and 
Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. 

36. T| Now there was at Joppa a certain 
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpre- 
tation is called Dorcas : this woman was full 
of good works and almsdeeds which she 
did. 

37. And it came to pass in those days, 
that she was sick, and died: whom when 
they had washed, they laid her in an upper 
chamber. 

38. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to 
Joppa, and the disciples had heard that 



Peter was there, they sent unto him two 
men, desiring him that he would not delay 
to come to them. 

39. Then Peter arose and went with 
them. When he was come, they brought 
him into the upper chamber : and all the 
widows stood by him weeping, and shewing 
the coats and garments which Dorcas made, 
while she was with them. 

40. But Peter put them all forth, and 
kneeled down, and prayed ; and turning him 
to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she 
opened her eyes : and when she saw Peter, 
she sat up. 

41. And he gave her his hand, and lifted 
her up, and when he had called the saints 
and widows, presented her alive. 

42. And it was known throughout all 
Joppa ; and many believed in the Lord. 

43. And it came to pass, that he tarried 
many days in Joppa with one Simon a 
tanner. 



i. St. Peter, we are told, came to " the saints which 
dwelt at Lydda." There are two words — to name no more 
— in our version of the New Testament, which have been 
strangely perverted from their proper signification ; while 
much perplexity, and even confusion, have followed on the 
perversion. These words are "elect" and "saints." 1 Many 
persons, whenever they fall upon the first of these words, 
have at least a confused idea that it necessarily implies final 
salvation ; and when they meet with the second have, proba- 
bly, a less confused notion that it necessarily implies internal 
personal sanctification of heart and life. 



1 In the original, k\7)toC and a-yioc. 



I36 TRAVELS AND LABORS OF ST. PETER. 

All this confusion has arisen from reading definitions into 
the words of Scripture, instead of bringing definitions out 
from them. One needs hardly to go beyond St. Paul's salu- 
tations, at the beginning of several of his Epistles, to see 
that the " elect " are those who, in the good pleasure of God, 
are called or chosen to receive the offer of the Gospel Cove- 
nant, and to be received into the one covenanted Body; and 
that the " saints" are those who are set apart and separated 
by holy baptism as members of that covenanted Body. All 
baptized persons are, therefore, in this the primary sense 
of the words, "elect" and "saints." The purpose of their 
election is that they may " make their calling and election 
sure ; " the purpose of their separation and setting apart is 
that they may become truly " holy, unblamable, and unre- 
provable before God." These purposes may be frustrated 
and brought to naught, but the fact of the calling and 
separation remains untouched. 1 

2. The two miracles here recorded illustrate what was said 
above, concerning the care exhibited by the Apostles to 
prevent any idea, on the part of those who witnessed the 
miracles wrought by them, that they wrought them by 
their own power or in their own names. When St. Peter, 
apparently in the presence of other persons, cured ^Eneas 
of his palsy, he said, " Christ Jesus maketh thee whole." 
When, with no witnesses present, he raised Dorcas from the 
dead, he simply said, " Tabitha, arise." 

1 The difference between 0710? and oo-to? should also be borne in mind ; the former 
indicating an objective separation, the latter a subjective sanctification. Trench, 
Synonymes, § lxxxviii. 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 



m 



SECTION III. 

THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 
{Chap. x. 1-48.) 



1. There was a certain man in Caesarea 
called Cornelius, a centurion of the band 
called the Italian band, 

2. A devout man, and one that feared 
God with all his house, which gave much 
alms to the people, and prayed to God 
alway. 

3. He saw in a vision evidently about the 
ninth hour of the day an angel of God 
coming in to him, and saying unto him, 
Cornelius. 

4. And when he looked on him, he was 
afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And 
he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine 
alms are come up for a memorial before 
God. 

5. And now send men to Joppa, and call 
for one Simon, whose surname is Peter : 

6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, 
whose house is by the seaside : he shall tell 
thee what thou oughtest to do. 

7. And when the angel which spake unto 
Cornelius was departed, he called two of his 
household servants, and a devout soldier of 
them that waited on him continually; 

8. And when he had declared all these 
things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. 

9. If On the morrow, as they went on 
their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, 
Peter went up upon the housetop to pray 
about the sixth hour : 

10. And he became very hungry, and 
would have eaten : but while they made 
ready, he fell into a trance, 

11. And saw heaven opened, and a cer- 
tain vessel descending unto him, as it had 
been a great sheet knit at the four corners, 
and let down to the earth : 

12. Wherein were all manner of four- 
footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, 
and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 



13. And there came a voice to him, Rise, 
Peter ; kill, and eat. 

14. But Peter said, Not so, Lord ; for I 
have never eaten any thing that is common 
or unclean. 

15. And the voice spake unto him again 
the second time, What God hath cleansed, 
that call not thou common. 

16. This was done thrice : and the vessel 
was received up again into heaven. 

17. Now while Peter doubted in himself 
what this vision which he had seen should 
mean, behold, the men which were sent 
from Cornelius had made enquiry for 
Simon's house, and stood before the gate, 

18. And called, and asked whether 
Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were 
lodged there. 

19. T| While Peter thought on the vision, 
the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men 
seek thee. 

20. Arise therefore, and get thee down, 
and go with them, doubting nothing : for 1 
have sent them. 

21. Then Peter went down to the men 
which were sent unto him from Cornelius ; 
and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek : 
what is the cause wherefore ye are 
come ? 

22. And they said, Cornelius the centu- 
rion, a just man, and one that feareth God, 
and of good report among all the nation of 
the Jews, was warned from God by an holy 
angel to send for thee into his house, and 
to hear words of thee. 

23. Then called he them in, and lodged 
the??i. And on the morrow Peter went 
away with them, and certain brethren from 
Joppa accompanied him. 

24. And the morrow after they entered 
into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for 



138 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 



them, and had called together his kinsmen 
and near friends. 

25. And as Peter was coming in, Corne- 
lius met him, and fell down at his feet, and 
worshipped him. 

26. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand 
up ; I myself also am a man. 

27. And as he talked with him, he went 
in, and found many that were come to- 
gether. 

28. And he said unto them, Ye know how 
that it is an unlawful thing for a man that 
is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one 
of another nation ; but God hath shewed me 
that I should not call any man common or 
unclean. 

29. Therefore came I unto you without 
gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for : I ask 
therefore for what intent ye have sent for 
me? 

30. And Cornelius said, Four days ago I 
was fasting until this hour ; and at the 
ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, 
behold, a man stood before me in bright 
clothing, 

31. And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is 
heard, and thine alms are had in remem- 
brance in the sight of God. 

32. Send therefore to Joppa, and call 
hither Simon, whose surname is Peter ; he 
is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner 
by the seaside : who, when he cometh, shall 
speak unto thee. 

33. Immediately therefore I sent to thee ; 
and thou hast well done that thou art come. 
Now therefore are we all here present be- 
fore God, to hear all things that are com- 
manded thee of God. 

34. Tf Then Peter opened his mouth, and 
said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no 
respecter of persons : 

35. But in every nation he that feareth 
him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
with him. 

36. The word which God sent unto the 



children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus 
Christ : (he is Lord of all : ) 

2,7. That word, / say, ye know, which 
was published throughout all Judsea, and 
began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
John preached; 

38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth 
with the Holy Ghost and with power : who 
went about doing good, and healing all that 
were oppressed of the devil ; for God was 
with him. 

39. And we are witnesses of all things 
which he did both in the land of the Jews, 
and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and 
hanged on a tree: 

40. Him God raised up the third day, and 
shewed him openly ; 

41. Not to all the people, but unto wit- 
nesses chosen before of God, even to us, who 
did eat and drink with him after he rose from 
the dead. 

42. And he commanded us to preach unto 
the people, and to testify that it is he which 
was. ordained of God to be the Judge of 
quick and dead. 

43. To him give all the prophets witness, 
that through his name whosoever believeth 
in him shall receive remission of sins. 

44. Tf While Peter yet spake these words, 
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard 
the word 

45. And they of the circumcision which 
believed were astonished, as many as came 
with Peter, because that on the Gentiles 
also was poured out the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. 

46. For they heard them speak with 
tongues, and magnify God. Then answered 
Peter, 

47. Can any man forbid water, that these 
should not be baptized, which have received 
the Holy Ghost as well as we ? 

48. And he commanded them to be bap- 
tized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed 
they him to tarry certain days. 



i. In his address before the council held at Jerusalem, 1 
St. Peter says, " Ye know how that a good while ago God 
made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth 
should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe." The words 
translated " a good while ago " really mean during the earthly 

1 Acts xv. 7-12. 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 1 39 

life of our Lord. 1 There is certainly nothing recorded in 
the Gospels to which St. Peter's declaration can well apply, 
except the very solemn occurrence in the " coasts of Csesarea 
Philippi." 2 not long before our Lord's final departure from 
Galilee, when He said to Peter, " I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven." If this promise is simply 
repeated in the words that follow it, then it was given to all 
the Apostles as well as to St. Peter. 3 If it is any thing 
special to St. Peter, to what can it more probably be referred 
than to the effect of that Apostle's preaching on the Day 
of Pentecost, by means of which three thousand Jews and 
proselytes of righteousness were baptized, and to his action 
in opening the door to Cornelius and others, recorded in the 
section we are now considering ? 

2. Three centurions are mentioned in the New Testament, 
and all with words of commendation : the first, he of whom 
our Lord said, " I have not found so great faith, no, not in 
Israel;" 4 the second, he who standing by the cross ex- 
claimed, "Truly this was the Son of God;" 5 the third, 
Cornelius, the first called of the Gentiles. This surely proves 
that there is nothing in the life of a soldier, in itself, incon- 
sistent with a Christian man's profession. 

3. It is hardly worth while to inquire whether Cornelius 
was strictly a Gentile, or a proselyte of the gate. We have 
no means of answering that question, nor is it important to 
have it answered, since the Jews regarded such proselytes 
very much as they did the Gentiles ; and, whatever Cornelius 
may have been, those who were baptized with him were 
unquestionably Gentiles, and, therefore, the first-fruits from 
heathendom. 

1 The Greek is i^' rifxepaiv apxaiuv. Now, ipxri is constantly used to signify the 
beginning of our Lord's ministry (Luke i. 2 ; John viii. 25, xv. 27). So apxato? is used to 
designate a disciple who was one while Christ was on earth (Acts xxi. 16). Granting 
that — as has been said — the meaning of both noun and adjective must be determined, 
in individual instances, by context and circumstances, do not both these in Acts xv. point 
in one direction, i.e., to our Lord's earthly ministry ? 

2 Matt. xvi. 13-20. ■* Matt. viii. 10. 

3 Matt, xviii. iS; John xx. 21-23. S ^ att » xxvii. 54. 



140 THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 

4. We are told of Cornelius, that he was " devout," that he 
" feared God with all his house," that he " gave much alms," 
and that he "prayed to God alway." It will not be amiss 
to consider carefully and in some detail what these words 
imply. 

Any one who believes that God created him, and placed 
him in this earthly life, can hardly fail, on reflection, to see 
that so placed he is not simply an isolated and disconnected 
unit, standing merely in a certain juxtaposition to other 
isolated and disconnected units, like a single grain in a sand- 
heap. Indeed, the very moment that we pass outside of in- 
animate things, and those of the very lowest order, we have 
left isolation behind us. Plants have relations to each other 
by which their growth, fructification, and character are 
modified. Beasts and birds have similar relations. Most of 
all, man has them. To get entirely-rid of them, is impossi- 
ble. For, were each man placed on that favorite resort of 
hard-pressed reasoners, a desert island, with no human being 
near him, he would, as we shall soon see, be rid of only one 
of the relations which his creation necessitates, and of no 
more. 

Now, the relations spoken of above are three in number : 
first, that in which a man stands towards God ; secondly, that 
which he sustains towards his fellow-men ; and thirdly, that 
which he occupies — as we may say — towards himself. 
Moreover, these relations cannot be regarded as mere abstrac- 
tions. They are living things. And they live and move in 
correspondent duties, which are very various, which appear 
in manifold forms and with manifold connections, but which, 
nevertheless, may be classified in exact accordance with the 
relations out of which they spring. And thus we reach 
again a threefold division, and we find duties that we owe to 
God, duties that we owe to our fellow-men, and duties that 
we owe to ourselves. The correspondence of relations and 
duties is entire. 

We need not waste time in inquiring how far man, without 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. I4I 

extraneous aid, and reasoning merely from the fact of creation 
and the essential conditions of life and society, might reach 
some general conclusions concerning the relations and duties 
spoken of above. For, in the first place, man has never 
been left entirely to himself in these regards ; and, anyhow, 
outside the Scriptures the comprehension of their entire 
extent and mutual interdependence cannot be found. 

We may be told, indeed, that heathen philosophers have 
set forth sound moral precepts. But we must remember that 
" there is hardly one of them who has not imposed his sanc- 
tion on some atrocious immorality. Even the divine Plato 
recommends the murder of sickly and feeble infants, ex- 
pressly allows drunkenness at the feasts of Bacchus, and 
authorizes some of the worst forms of licentiousness." And 
we must also remember that all these precepts are conveyed 
in an abstract and not in a concrete form, and that, therefore, 
they lack the clearness and definiteness which are requisite 
if they are to be of any practical value. 

Again, we may be told that modern deists have, in many 
cases, inculcated a true, pure, and even severe morality. But 
here it must be borne in mind that all these persons have 
grown up and lived under a condition of things, and with an 
environment, which have been largely, if not entirely, due to 
the moulding influences of Christianity. Principles and laws 
of life are generally recognized, and therefore known to 
them, which could never have been known or taught but for 
the centuries of Christian influences which have established 
them. So that they are really using the knowledge which 
Christianity has given them, to prove that men do not need 
Christianity at all ! 

When we come to the code of Sinai, the Ten Command- 
ments of the law, we find all these relations and their 
resultant duties fully recognized. The first four Command- 
ments set forth duties to God; the sixth, seventh, eighth, 
and ninth declare our duties to our fellow-men in relation 
to their lives, families, property, and characters ; the fifth 



142 THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 

invests with new sanctions the divine institution of the 
family, and places it between duties to God and duties to 
man, because in it these several duties are first learned ; and 
the tenth, going down into the heart and life, indicates, in 
one marvellous and all-embracing provision, our duties to 
ourselves, connecting them also with our duties to our 
fellow-men in a way that is equally marvellous to a thoughtful 
mind. 

Advancing, again, to our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, 
we find these same relations recognized in it, and the same 
duties inculcated. Indeed, apart from these, it seems impos- 
sible to analyze these great teachings of our Lord. 

What strikes us first is the clear statement that our Lord 
abrogates or destroys no jot or tittle of the law of God. If 
there are in the code of Moses things, institutions, rites, 
ordinances, ceremonies, which are ordained as typical and 
"the shadow of good things to come," these He fulfils. 
And fulfilment is neither abrogation nor destruction. If 
there are those great moral rules which, grounded on the 
eternal principles of right and wrong, are from the begin- 
ning, and only change by being more completely unfolded 
and therefore understood, these He carries out from the 
letter into the spirit ; and, investing them with fuller sanc- 
tions, makes them also live in nobler forms. It is the old 
tree, planted long ages since, nay, coeval with the race, 
with its deeply penetrating roots and well-compacted and 
shapely trunk, spreading out into a new wealth of branch 
and twig, foliage and flower and fruit ; but it is the old tree 
still. 

If now we turn to the last half of the fifth chapter of St. 
Matthew's Gospel, we shall find a striking agreement in the 
arrangement of the duties spoken of, with that which we 
found in the Ten Commandments ; the only difference being 
that the duties due to our fellow-men come first to view. 1 

First, then, two of the old laws are rehearsed, — those, 

1 It is worth while to read, just here, i John iv. 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 143 

namely, forbidding murder and adultery, — and they are 
carried inward from the outward act to the thought and 
intent of the heart ; and thus an explanation is afforded as 
to how the new teaching fulfils the old. 

Then follows a re-assertion of the sacred institution of the 
family, and the miserable abuse of multiplied causes of 
divorce — which destroy that ordinance of God — is scath- 
ingly denounced. 

Next comes a prohibition of irreverence and profanity 
toward God's Holy Name ; and do not these two things lie 
at the root of most human failures in the duties which men 
owe to their Creator ? 

Precisely, then, as in the code of Sinai, the family is 
again placed between duties to God and duties to men, as 
the point where both meet, and where the earliest instruc- 
tion in both is given. 

And, lastly, just as in the Ten Commandments we found 
at the close of all the words, " Thou shalt not covet ; " so 
here we find two duties to ourselves — touching indeed (all 
such duties must) those we owe to others — inculcated, which 
really cover all the ground: namely, the meekness that 
patiently endures injury and wrong, and the love that for- 
gives, and prays for, and does good to enemies. 

So the identity of the precepts given, and of their 
arrangement, as between the code delivered among the 
rugged cliffs of the Arabian desert, and that pronounced 
upon the sunny hillside of Judaea, is perfect : duties to God 
and man centring in the family coming first, and duties to 
one's self closing the record of injunctions. 

But there is still more to be said. If we pass from the 
fifth to the sixth chapter of this Gospel, we are confronted 
with something that has puzzled many a reader. After a 
general direction, not to " do our righteousness r before 
men," — that is, to avoid all ostentation in what we do, — 

1 The Authorized Version reads "alms;" but " righteousness " (ScKaioo-vvqv) is un- 
doubtedly the correct reading. 



144 THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 

three things are named, alms-giving, prayer, and fasting. But 
no man, surely, will say that these three things are all the 
duties of the Christian life. Why, then, are they named 
here ? Simply because they are representative duties. 
Each represents one of the three divisions of duty which 
have been under review. In alms-giving, which stretches 
out the hand to help the needy, we find a representative of 
our duties to our fellow-men. In prayer, which is the very 
life of our relations to our Heavenly Father, we have a rep- 
resentative of the duties which we owe to God. In fasting, 
which is nothing and less than nothing if it is made to end 
in itself, and is not used simply as a means to the great 
end of self control, — in this we are presented with a repre- 
sentative of the duties we owe to ourselves. So the classifi- 
cation and arrangement remain unchanged. 

Nor is the case altered if we turn to the Apostolic teach- 
ing. When St. Paul preached to Felix " the faith in Christ," 
we are told that " he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, 
and judgment to come." l Righteousness covers the duties 
to God and man ; temperance, 2 which, in Scripture, reaches 
far beyond the conventional signification attached to it now, 
covers all duties which a man owes to himself, comprised in 
the one word "self-control." When the same Apostle, writ- 
ing to Titus, would sum up the duties of the Christian life, 
and give its outline, he says, "Teaching us . . . that we 
should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present 
life ;" 3 soberly in ourselves, righteously towards our neighbors, 
godly towards our Heavenly Father. So does the Apostle 
of the Gentiles echo the teaching of the Sermon on the 
Mount, — as that echoed and carried out the teaching of 
the Ten Commandments ; as they echoed and enlarged the 
less clear but undoubted teaching of the law of nature. 

Now, a man who " was a devout man, and one that feared 

1 Acts xxiv. 24, 25. 

2 In the original, iyKpireta ; see Gal. v. 22, 23 ; 2 Pet. i. 6 ; Tit. i. 8. 

3 Tit. ii. 12. 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. I45 

God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, 
and prayed to God always " (and all this Cornelius was and 
did), was certainly one who "feared God, and wrought right- 
eousness," according to the light that he had and the power 
that was given him. He lived up to the law of nature as 
he knew it ; possibly he knew more, even, from his contact 
with the Jews. And so he was " accepted," according to 
what he had, and not according to what he had not ; accepted 
not in or for himself and his own works, but because of the 
merit of that one mighty Sacrifice, the objective value of 
which reached to and touched one who had never known 
of it nor of its Offerer. God alone knows of how many in 
different lands and ages these same things may be said. It 
is enough that He does know, and that the One great Sac- 
rifice has such power and efficacy. If the subjective nar- 
rowness of sectarianism cannot comprehend this objective 
value of the Redeemer's death ; if it cannot comprehend 
how those who have never known or thought about it — 
especially the latter — can be benefited by it, — one can only 
lament that it has lost so grand and blessed a portion of the 
heritage of the Catholic Church, and lament even more that 
this is not all which it has lost. 

It will not be amiss to read, in connection with this pass- 
age in Acts, and what has been said upon it, the parable of 
the talents, and the account of the general judgment, in the 
twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. 1 The former 
of these presents the rule by which Christians will be judged, 
and the latter that by which others will be judged. The 
reading will give us fresh motives for acknowledging and 
adoring the mercy and the justice of our God and Father. 

But let no man quote these words of St. Peter, as justify- 
ing one born and trained in Christian lands, and even brought 
into the Church of God, in neglecting God's ordinances, 
institutions, and laws. He is not a devout man, he does not 

1 Bishop Seabury has two admirable sermons on these passages, — Discourses xiv. 
and xv. 



I46 THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES. 

fear God and work righteousness, who attempts this ; who 
turns from the light of the gospel and the ordinances of 
Christ's Church, and acknowledges no law and no light but 
that of Nature, as he calls it. 

5. Those who received the miraculous manifestations of 
the Holy Ghost were nevertheless baptized. The lesson is 
as clear as in the case of St. Paul. No gifts dispense with 
the established ordinances of God where those ordinances 
may be had. 



GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 



147 



SECTION IV. 

RECEPTION AT JERUSALEM OF THE INTELLIGENCE THAT THE 
GENTILES WERE ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 

{Chap. xi. 1-18.) 



1. And the apostles and brethren that 
were in Judsea heard that the Gentiles had 
also received the word of God. 

2. And when Peter was come up to Jeru- 
salem, they that were of the circumcision 
contended with him, 

3. Saying, Thou wentest in to men un- 
circumcised, and didst eat with them. 

4. But Peter rehearsed the matter from 
the beginning, and expounded it by order 
unto them, saying, 

5. I was in the city of Joppa praying : 
and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain 
vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, 
let down from heaven by four corners ; and 
it came even to me : 

6. Upon the which when I had fastened 
mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted 
beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and 
creeping things, and fowls of the air. 

7. And I heard a voice saying unto me, 
Arise, Peter ; slay and eat. 

8. But I said, Not so, Lord : for nothing 
common or unclean hath at any time entered 
into my mouth. 

9. But the voice answered me again from 
heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call 
not thou common. 

10. And this was done three times, and 
all were drawn up again into heaven. 



11. And, behold, immediately there were 
three men already come unto the house 
where I was, sent from Caesarea unto 
me. 

12. And the Spirit bade me go with 
them, nothing doubting. Moreover these 
six brethren accompanied me, and we en- 
tered into the man's house : 

13. And he shewed us how he had seen 
an angel in his house, which stood and said 
unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for 
Simon, whose surname is Peter ; 

14. Who shall tell thee words, whereby 
thou and all thy house shall be saved. 

15. And as I began to speak, the Holy 
Ghost fell on them, as on us at the begin- 
ning. 

16. Then remembered I the word of the 
Lord, how that he said, John indeed bap- 
tized with water ; but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost. 

17. Forasmuch then as God gave them 
the like gift as he did unto us, who believed 
on the Lord Jesus Christ ; what was I, that 
I could withstand God ? 

18. When they heard these things, they 
held their peace, and glorified God, saying, 
Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted 
repentance unto life. 



We can hardly comprehend the feeling, amounting to 
consternation, with which the Jewish converts must have 
received the intelligence that the Gentiles were to be 
admitted to membership and privileges in the Church of 
God. Isaiah had indeed declared that "the Gentiles should 
come to the light " that was to shine upon the future Israel, 
flying to it " as a cloud, and as the doves to the windows ; " 



143 GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 

that "all nations" should flow unto the "mountain of the 
Lord's House;" that God would take of the Gentiles "for 
priests and for Levites ; " and that there should be "a root 
of Jesse" to which "the Gentiles should seek." l And long 
before the day when God made with His people the covenant 
in Horeb, He had said to Abraham, " In thy seed shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed." 2 

But all these, and manifold other prophecies, had been 
read under the influence of prejudice, contempt, and even 
hatred, which had deepened and strengthened as the centu- 
ries had gone by. The veil was on the heart of the Jewish 
people "in the reading of the Old Testament." 3 So that 
even when they acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah, 
and came into the Church of the new covenant, they brought 
with them their old prejudices and convictions, and clung 
very generally to their former antagonism to the Gentiles, 
and also to their attachment to the Mosaic ceremonial law. 
Several questions, then, must almost inevitably be presented 
to the Church for discussion and settlement, and that at 
an early day : first, Are the Gentiles to be admitted to the 
Church ? secondly, If so admitted, are they to stand on a 
footing of equality with the Jews, or is the old separation 
to continue ? thirdly, If they are so to stand, then are cir- 
cumcision and the ceremonial law to be imposed on them ? 
fourthly, If these are not to be imposed on the Gentiles, 
are they still to bind or only to be permitted to the Jews ; 
fifthly, If permitted, is the permission to be permanent or 
temporary? sixthly, If temporary, when is the permission to 
cease ? 

The first of these questions appears to have been suffi- 
ciently answered by St. Peter's statements recorded in this 
section, and accepted by those who heard them. The second 
is impliedly answered here, and, together with the third, 
would seem to have been fully answered in. the council at 
Jerusalem, of which we read in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. 

1 Isa. lx. i, 8, ii. 2, lxvi. 21, xi. 10. 2 Gen. xxii. 18. 3 2 Cor. iii. 13-15. 



GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. I49 

It is obvious, however, from what St. Paul tells us in his 
Epistle to the Galatians, that the question came up again at 
Antioch, and in its most offensive form in Galatia ; while the 
other questions found their settlement only as time went on, 
and were not probably disposed of till after the destruction 
of Jerusalem. 

While, however, we fully understand that Jews and Gen- 
tiles are on a footing of entire equality in the Church of 
God ; that no Gentile was expected, from the beginning, to 
observe the Mosaic law ; that it was not even binding on, 
but only permitted for a season to, the Jews ; and that now 
even that permission is a thing of the far-off past, — still the 
question meets us, Why was any such permissive use 
accorded to the Jews, and when did it come to an end ? 

It may help us to reach what is believed to be the true 
answer to this question, to remember, that in none of the 
works of God, so far as our knowledge extends, is there 
any abrupt transition from one to another, or any clear-cut 
and absolute division between them. In the natural world, 
day and night are not clearly and instantly separated, but 
there are the morning and the evening twilight ; the seasons 
rise or fade into and overlap each other : and so it is in 
regard to the various stages of human life, infancy, youth, 
manhood, and old age. Nor is it otherwise in those dispen- 
sations and periods in and by which our Heavenly Father 
has carried on His one great plan of man's redemption and 
salvation to its final form — final, that is, for this world — in 
the Christian Dispensation ; while the reverent-minded and 
thoughtful student of the story of these dispensations can 
hardly fail to be struck with the place which God's judg- 
ments occupy in it. Indeed, "the righteous judgments of 
God, like the weldings of a forge, have served to overlap and 
bind together the several portentous periods of human his- 
tory. The ark which preserved Noah and his sons as the 
progenitors of the second period, floated over the waves of 
the Deluge, and bound together, in awful punishment and 



150 GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 

stupendous mercy, the ante-diluvian and the post-diluvian 
periods. The rejection of the patriarchal Church for their 
idolatry, and the symbolic warning of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
were many years after the call of Abraham, with which the 
third period began. The judgments upon Israel and Judah 
were still more lasting. They bound together the fourth and 
fifth periods by a still more fiery indignation. The sixth 
period began at the Resurrection ; but the judgment which 
blended the fifth period with it did not begin till the seventy 
weeks of mercy were ended, and continued till the forty- 
second year after the crime for which Judah was rejected." r 
Then came the destruction of Jerusalem, the last great type 
that will be given of the day " when the Lord Jesus shall be 
revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels, in naming 
fire." 2 

Some thoughts like these would seem to have been in 
Augustine's mind when he wrote to Jerome: "For now when 
the Faith had come, which was before declared by those 
observances (i.e., of the Mosaic law), and was revealed after 
the death and resurrection of the Lord, they lost, so to 
speak, their life. Notwithstanding, like dead bodies they 
were carried out by the care of relatives, in some sort to 
burial, not in pretence but religiously, and were not imme- 
diately abandoned or cast out to the detractions of enemies 
as to the bitings of dogs. Now, however, if any Christian, 
Jew though he may have been, undertakes to celebrate these 
rites, digging up as it were slumbering ashes, he is not a 
pious bearer of the corpse, but an impious violator of the 
sepulchre." 3 Farther on, in the same Epistle, he expresses 
his entire agreement with the opinion of Jerome, that " the 

1 Dr. Jarvis, Church of the Redeemed, p. 597; compare also pp. 2 and 593. The 
writer's first period ends with the Deluge ; the second, with the call of Abraham ; 
the third, with the separation of Israel, and the giving of the law ; the fourth, with the 
Babylonish captivity; the fifth, with the destruction of the second temple; the sixth is 
still in progress. This arrangement has been criticised as "defective and injudicious." 
It is, at all events, Scriptural. 

2 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. 3 Epistle lxxxii. 



GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 1 5 I 

ceremonies of the Jews are pernicious and deadly l to Chris- 
tians ; and that whoever observes them, whether a Jew or 
Gentile by birth, has plunged into the abyss of Satan." 

May we not fairly say, that, up to the death and resur- 
rection of our Lord, the Mosaic ceremonial law was living 
though not life-giving ; that after the Lord's resurrection, 
and till the final destruction of the temple, it was moribund, 
though its observance was permitted to the Jewish, while it 
was never laid upon the Gentile converts ; that after the 
final destruction of the temple, with which the last vestiges 
of the Mosaic Dispensation disappeared, this permission 
ended, and observance of Jewish ceremonies was forbidden 
to any Christian man ? 2 

These considerations explain St. Paul's acts and words 
which have seemed to many persons to be inconsistent with 
each other. When he says, "unto the Jews I became" — 
not a Jew, but — "as a Jew," 3 he means that under the 
permission noted above he was willing to observe ceremonial 
ordinances, not as binding, not as bringing any spiritual 
advantage, but simply as allowed in order to remove Jewish 
prejudices not yet conquered. So he caused Timothy, the 
son of a Jewess, to be circumcised ; and shaved his head, in 
consequence of a Nazaritic vow, at Cenchrea ; and shared 
in the same vow with others at Jerusalem. 4 When he says, 
"to them that are without law [I became] as without law," s 
he means that among the Gentiles he asserted his rights as 
a freeman of Christ, which, indeed, he had not denied among 
the Jews, and recognized, as he himself says, no distinction 
between Jew and Gentile as members of the Body of Christ. 
So he refused to allow Titus, the son of heathen parents, to 

1 Mortifera, implying very much more than that they had merely " lost their life " 
and were defimcta, dead. 

2 In the first period the legal ceremonies were viva non vivifica ; in the second, mor't 
bunda sed non mortifera ; in the third, mortua et mortifera. 

3 i Cor. ix. 20. 

4 Acts xvi. 3, xviii. 18, xxi. 26. 
3 1 Cor. ix. 21. 



152 GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 

be circumcised ; and withstood Peter " to the face," when 
that Apostle (exhibiting again something of the lack of 
courage which led to his sad denial of his Lord) yielded to 
the Judaizers at Antioch, and would have "compelled the 
Gentiles to live as do the Jews." * There was no inconsist- 
ency in all this. What there was, was that true charity 
which "hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all 
things." 

There is not infrequently made, to-day, an utter perver- 
sion of what St. Paul says concerning Mosaic ordinances, by 
applying his words to Christian ordinances. How have self- 
righteousness and false spiritualism disported themselves in 
this ample field, and converted passages, which had only in 
view observances of the old ceremonial law, into condemna- 
tions, or at least disparagements, of the divinely ordered 
ordinances of the Church ! Because St. Paul speaks of cer- 
tain things in that law as "weak and beggarly elements of 
bondage," 2 therefore the most venerable institutions of the 
Church, even those that are divine, are to be so stigmatized. 
Because he says that "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision 
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature," 3 
therefore baptism and the Eucharist are of no avail ; and 
this in the face of the fact that in the very Epistle in which 
this statement occurs, the Apostle also says, "as many of 
you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." 4 
May it be that they who thus wrest Holy Scripture, know 
not what they do ! 

All ordinances, in all dispensations, are means to an end 
that lies beyond them, and is greater than they are or can 
be. In any true conception of these, therefore, there are 
two things which cannot safely be severed, and one held to 
the exclusion of the other. These are the ordinance itself, 
and the end which it is a means of reaching. It is easy on 
the one side so to exalt the means as to disparage, if not to 

1 Gal. ii. 11-15. 3 Gal. vi. 15. 

2 Gal. iv. 9. 4 Gal. iii. 27. 



GENTILES ADMITTED TO THE CHURCH. 1 53 

forget, the end ; and, on the other side, so to dwell on the 
end as to belittle, if not to put aside, the means. 

The Jews made this mistake concerning their sacrifices. 
They made them end in themselves. They fancied that God 
instituted them for the sake of having them. They forgot 
that there were moral purposes to be answered by them, and 
that these purposes were greater than the sacrifices them- 
selves. This is what Jeremiah means when he represents 
God as saying, "I spake not unto your fathers, nor com- 
manded them in the day that I brought them out of the land 
of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices ; but this 
thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice." l That is, 
my purpose in regard to the ceremonial law was not fulfilled 
in the mere offering of the sacrifice : there was something 
beyond that, namely spiritual instruction and moral disci- 
pline. In precisely the same way there have been, and no 
doubt are now, in the Church, persons who treat the divine 
ordinances of the new law in the same way; forgetting that 
they are means through which, by the operation of the Holy 
Spirit, we are united to the resurrection life of our blessed 
Lord, and through Him to the Father; and ending every 
thing in and with the ordinance itself. 

The other danger is, however, in these days more pressing 
and more prevalent. Men are impatient of having any thing, 
as some say, put between their souls and Christ ; as others 
say, between themselves and God. The former disparage 
sacraments ; the latter disparage, if they do not reject, the 
Mediator. They admit means to an end everywhere but in 
religion. There they clamor for the end without the means. 
Alas that their unwisdom works such fearful harm to human 
souls ! 

1 Jer. vii. 22. There is an excellent note, in reply to the interpretation put upon this 
passage by the " new school " of critics, in the note at the end of this chapter in the 
Speaker's Commentary, 



154 PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 



SECTION V. 

OTHER PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 
{Chap. xi. IQ-30.) 



19. H Now they which were scattered 
abroad upon the persecution that arose 
about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, 
and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the 
word to none but unto the Jews only. 

20. And some of them were men of 
Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were 
come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, 
preaching the Lord Jesus. 

21. And the hand of the Lord was with 
them : and a great number believed, and 
turned unto the Lord. 

22. *[ Then tidings of these things came 
unto the ears of the church which was in 
Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, 
that he should go as far as Antioch. 

23. Who, when he came, and had seen 
the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted 
them all, that with purpose of heart they 
would cleave unto the Lord. 

24. For he was a good man, and full of 
the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much 
people was added unto the Lord. 



25. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, 
for to seek Saul : 

26. And when he had found him, he 
brought him unto Antioch. And it came 
to pass, that a whole year they assembled 
themselves with the church, and taught 
much people. And the disciples were called 
Christians first in Antioch. 

27. ^[ And in these days came prophets 
from Jerusalem unto Antioch. 

28. And there stood up one of them 
named' Agabus, and signified by the spirit 
that there should be great dearth through- 
out all the world: which came to pass in 
the days of Claudius Caesar. 

29. Then the disciples, every man ac- 
cording to his ability, determined to send 
relief unto the brethren which dwelt in 
Judaea: 

30. Which also they did, and sent it to 
the elders by the hands of Barnabas and 
Saul. 



1. This section takes us back to the martyrdom of St. 
Stephen, and narrates certain events which were preparatory 
to the Mission to the Gentiles, the story of which begins 
at the thirteenth chapter, and, with the exception of the 
account of the council at Jerusalem (if, indeed, that is an 
exception), occupies the remainder of this book. Its begin- 
ning illustrates, as has been said before, one of the ways in 
which the Church grows by persecution. The sowers are 
scattered abroad, and the field in which the Word is sown is 
enlarged. 

2. Phenice was a narrow strip of land sloping from the 
foot of Lebanon to the seacoast. Tyre and Sidon were 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 155 

among its cities. Cyprus was the native land of Barnabas, 
and many Jews had settled there. Antioch stands, in impor- 
tance, next to Jerusalem in the history of Christianity, and, 
indeed, has been called the Gentile Jerusalem. It was situ- 
ated on the Orontes, just where that river breaks through 
the mountain-range, at the point of meeting of the chains 
of Lebanon and Taurus, and at the distance of about sixteen 
miles from its seaport Seleucia. "Here the first Gentile 
church was founded ; here the disciples of Christ were first 
called Christians ; here St. Paul exercised, so far as is dis- 
tinctly recorded, his first ministerial work ; hence he started 
at the beginning of his first missionary journey, and hither 
he returned. So again, after the Apostolic Council, he began 
and ended his second missionary journey at this place. This, 
too, was the starting-point of the third missionary journey, 
which was brought to a termination by the imprisonment at 
Jerusalem and Caesarea." * Antioch had, besides its eccle- 
siastical, its civil, importance ; in that, while it had been 
the capital of the Greek kings of Syria, it had become, in the 
times of the Apostles, the residence of the Roman governors 
of the province. 

We have here an illustration of the way in which the 
Apostles fulfilled the command to be witnesses to our Lord, 
not only " in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria," 
but also " unto the uttermost part of the earth." The method 
was to seize a central point, and to work out from it. The 
first central point was Jerusalem, which thus became the 
mother — not the mistress — of all the churches. Then 
came Samaria, the city where Philip the Deacon preached 
and baptized, and St. Peter and St. John administered the 
laying-on of hands. Next followed Antioch. And then, as 
we follow St. Paul in his journeyings, we reach successively 
Salamis, Paphos, Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra 
and Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, 
Ephesus, Rome. All these places were centres of intel- 

1 Dean Howson in Smith's Bible Dictionary, 



156 PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 

lectual, commercial, or political life and influence, — places 
which not only had large numbers dwelling in them, but to 
which others were drawn for the various purposes indicated 
by their several characteristics. 

Not only do we thus find the method employed by the 
Apostles in propagating the gospel, and, perhaps, gain a hint 
as to the best method for our own time, but we also find a 
wonderful exhibition of the faith and courage of the Apostles 
themselves. " Obscure as they were, they were not content 
with taking up obscure ground ; they did not secrete them- 
selves in rural and sequestered neighborhoods, and trust to 
emerge by degrees, as their new principles should creep 
through the country, without observation : they boldly fixed 
their headquarters, by preference, in the most conspicuous 
and flourishing towns ; Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, 
Rome, being all of them sites the most commanding ; cities, 
populous, busy, alive, intelligent, pre-eminently set on a hill ; 
serving, in addition to their general aptitude for the purposes 
contemplated by the Apostles, to convince mankind that 
humble teachers of the gospel, who planted their standards 
so bravely, must be confident in their cause, must feel their 
strength, were ready to challenge inquiry, and were con- 
vinced that their efforts would make an impression on the 
world." 1 

When from the Apostolic age we pass on to later times, 
we find these same places re-appearing in a way that is 
very significant. They have become the seats of bishops ; 
and when, later on, convenience of ecclesiastical administra- 
tion requires it, some of them become metropolitan sees, 
and a few the seats of patriarchs. In all cases, more espe- 
cially in those of metropolitical and patriarchal sees, it is 
quite as much the civil importance of the city that determines 
its ecclesiastical position as any merely ecclesiastical relations 
or associations ; indeed, we may fairly say that civil consider- 

1 J. J. Blunt, History of the Christian Church during the First Three Centuries, 
PP- 53» 54- 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 1 57 

ations outweigh ecclesiastical ones. Thus the Council of 
Antioch, in 341, says, "It behooves the Bishops in every 
province to own him who presides over the metropolis, and 
who is to take care of the whole province ; because all who 
have business come together from every side to the metrop- 
olis. Wherefore it has been decreed that he should have a 
precedence of rank" x etc. In the same way the " Fathers 
gave honorary privileges to Old Rome, because it was the 
imperial city ; " and when Constantinople became New Rome, 
they gave it equal privileges ; "judging, with reason, that 
the city which was honored with the sovereignty and senate, 
and which enjoyed equal privileges with the elder royal Rome, 
should be magnified like her in ecclesiastical matters, being 
the second after her." 2 This was the declaration of the 
Council of Chalcedon in 45 1 ; and it confirms the action of 
the first Council of Constantinople in 381, which gave "pre- 
rogatives of honor to Constantinople . . . because it is New 
Rome." All this can have only one meaning. It clearly 
indicates that the honorary precedences in the great Patri- 
archates were mainly due to the civil importance of the 
cities where they, had their seat. The ecclesiastical ideas 
are of a later date. 

3. There is a various reading in ver. 20, of which some- 
thing should be said. Some manuscripts read Helienistas> 
translated in our version " Grecians," and meaning, as has 
been said, Greek-speaking Jews. Others read Hellcnas, in our 
version " Greeks," and meaning Gentiles. 3 Except for the 
sake of an accurate text, the reading is not material. If 
the preaching spoken of was to the Greek-speaking Jews it 
probably preceded, if it was to the Gentiles it probably 

1 Canon IX. The words translated " precedence of rank " are in the original ttj tijujJ 

npor)yel<r&ai. 

2 Council of Chalcedon, Can. XXVIII. : Privileges, to. npeo-pe'ia; equal privileges s 
ra To-a npea^ela. Council of Constantinople, Can. III. : Prerogatives of honor, npea^el^ 

3 See especially Westcott and Hort, New Testament, vol. i. App. p. 93 ; and Scrivener, 
Introduction to Criticism of New Testament, p. 536 (2d ed.). 



158 PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 

followed, the conversion of Cornelius ; though it may very 
well have preceded any action, in consequence of that con- 
version, at Jerusalem. 

4. There is something peculiarly attractive in the character 
of Barnabas, as it is brought before us in the few and slight 
hints and touches that are given in the Acts. The very 
name added by the Apostles to his own, Barnabas, whether 
we interpret it Son of Consolation or Son of Prophecy, is 
suggestive. As a Son of Consolation, he ministered of his 
worldly substance to those who were in want. As a Son 
of Prophecy, which word in the New Testament means first 
of all exhortation, "he exhorted all, that, with purpose of 
heart, they should cleave unto the Lord." ■ His abundant 
alms-giving attests his love for Christ. His bringing Saul 
to the Apostles, when the disciples were " all afraid of him," 
exhibits the charity that " thinketh no evil." His seeking 
Saul at Tarsus, his bringing him to Antioch, and his willing- 
ness to take the lower place when the Apostle of the Gentiles 
is called up to the higher, — all show to us the truly noble 
man, ready to abase himself (as one has said, " to obliterate 
himself "), 2 so only the great work might go forward. We are 
prepared to be told, even from these outlines, that " he was a 
good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much 
people was added unto the Lord." We can hardly help the 
thought that St. Paul had him in mind when, in the Epistle to 
the Romans, he wrote, " Be kindly affectioned one to another 
with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another, . . . 
distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality." 3 

5. It can never be fully determined whether the name 
Christians was given to the disciples at Antioch by the 
Jews, the Gentiles, or the believers themselves. It seems 
hardly probable that the Jews would give it, inasmuch as its 

1 Acts iv. 36, xi. 23. 

2 Renan says this ! See Dean Howson's Bohlen Lectures for 1880. I cannot but 
think that scant justice has been done to this modest but very valuable little book. 

3 Rom. xii. 10, 13. The original, ^iAo|eiaa»', means a good deal more than hospitality 
in our ordinary use of the word. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 1 59 

application would involve connecting the name Messiah or 
Christ with the despised Nazarenes or Galileans. As little 
is it likely to have been given by the heathen, who surely 
could have known nothing of the claims of Christians to 
share in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and to whom our 
Lord was presented less as the promised Messiah than as 
the Son of God raised from the dead with power. Far more 
likely is it that they who must have been taught that they 
had "an unction from the Holy One," that Fie who anointed 
them was God, and that the anointing which they had 
received was to abide with them, 1 — far more likely is it that 
these should have taken to themselves, not in arrogance but 
in deep humility, the name "anointed-ones." It would be the 
solemn reference of all that they had and were, to another 
than themselves, even to the Holy Spirit of God. If the 
testimony of Tacitus, that Christians were commonly so 
called from " Christ, who suffered during the procuratorship 
of Pontius Pilate," is to be taken as proof that the name 
was given by the enemies of the Lord, so be it. Names 
neither create nor give dignity to things, but things dignify 
and sometimes create names. Of all ridiculous things, those 
are most ridiculous which with sounding and pretentious 
titles lack correspondent realities. 

However it originated, the name became one that its wear- 
ers honored and gloried in. " That I may not only be called 
a Christian, but may be found to be one," writes Ignatius to 
the Romans; and again to the Magnesians, "Whoever is 
called by any other name than this [Christian] is not of 
God." "I am a Christian," says Polycarp to the proconsul. 
The martyrs at Lyons and Vienne proclaim themselves 
Christians ; and in the Clementine Liturgy prayer is offered 
"for every Christian soul," and God is thanked "that the 
name of Christ has been called upon us." 2 

1 1 John ii. 20 ; 2 Cor. i. 21 ; 1 John ii. 27. 

2 Ignatius, Romans, c. iii. ; Magnesians, c. x. Polycarf 's Martyrdom, c. x. Letter 
from Lyons and Vienne, Eusebius, Eccl. Hist,, Lib. v. c. 1. Clementine Liturgy, Dea- 
cons' Litany and Thanksgiving after Communion. 



l60 PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 

6. In connection with the mission of Barnabas and Paul, 
as bearers of alms to Jerusalem for the relief of the brethren 
in Judaea, we find the first mention of presbyters or elders. 
No special account is given us, such as we find in the case 
of the deacons, of their institution or of the mode of their 
appointment. Their existence, not only at Jerusalem, but 
elsewhere, is abundantly proved from Holy Scripture. In 
returning from their first missionary tour, Sts. Paul and Bar- 
nabas "ordained them elders [presbyters] in every Church." 
St. Paul summoned the "elders [presbyters] of the Church" 
of Ephesus to Miletus ; and we find them at Philippi, at 
Ephesus again, and in Crete. 1 Many early writers thought 
that they, as well as the deacons, were taken from the 
seventy whom the Lord appointed after He had chosen the 
twelve. 2 

St. Paul alone, of all the New-Testament writers, uses 
another word to designate this order in the Ministry, namely, 
bishops [e7uo-K07r(ws].3 St. Luke when he is writing history, 
St. James, and St. Peter, speak of them only as presbyters 
[Trpecr/SuTepov?].* This, therefore, would seem to have been 
their proper title, and St. Paul had apparently in mind the 
character of their office and its duties ; while their proper 
appellation took cognizance of their age rather than of their 
work. Nor does St. Paul always call them episcopoi ; on the 
contrary, he just as often terms them presbyters. 

Theodoret tells us 5 " that they formerly called the same 
persons presbyters and bishops, and those who are now called 



1 Acts xiv. 23, xx. 17; Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. v. 1 ; Tit. i. 5 

2 Luke x. 1. See Archbishop Potter, Church Government, chap, ii., at the end. 

3 Acts xx. 28 ; Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1, 2 ; Tit. i. 7. 

4 Acts xiv. 23, xx. 17 ; Jas. v. 14; 1 Pet. v. i. 

s Theodoret on 1 Tim. iii. As Theodoret was placed in a monastery at the age of 
seven years, under the tuition of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Chrysostom, and became 
bishop of Cyrus in Syria in 420, this carries his testimony back to within three hundred 
years of the Apostolic age. And when one remembers how few intermediate witnesses 
this period would require to fill up the gap between him and that age, his testimony may 
surely be received. On new applications of old words, see Bentley's Answer to Collins, 
in Bishop Randolph's Enchiridion, vol. v. p. 203 ff. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES. l6l 

bishops they called apostles ; but as time went on, they left 
the name apostle to those who were truly apostles, and to 
those that were once called apostles they gave the name of 
bishops." 

It is quite obvious that the presbyters occupy a position 
intermediate between apostles and deacons. Nor do we 
find any other orders of ministers than these three, men- 
tioned in the Acts. For when Philip is called an evangelist, 
is it immediately added that he was "one of the seven." x 

1 Acts xxi. 8. 



1 62 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 



SECTION VI 

THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 
(Chap, xii.) 



i. Now about that time Herod the king 
stretched forth his hands to vex certain of 
the church. 

2. And he killed James the brother of 
John with the sword. 

3. And because he saw it pleased the 
Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter 
also. (Then were the days of unleavened 
bread.) 

4. And when he had apprehended him, 
he put him in prison, and delivered him to 
four quaternions of soldiers to keep him ; 
intending after Easter to bring him forth to 
the people. 

5. Peter therefore was kept in prison : 
but prayer was made without ceasing of 
the church unto God for him. 

6. And when Herod would have brought 
him forth, the same night Peter was sleep- 
ing between two soldiers, bound with two 
chains : and the keepers before the door 
kept the prison. 

7. And, behold, the angel of the Lord 
came upon him, and a light shined in the 
prison : and he smote Peter on the side, and 
raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. 
And his chains fell off from his hands. 

8. And the angel said unto him, Gird 
thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so 
he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy 
garment about thee, and follow me. 

9. And he went out, and followed him; 
and wist not that it was true which was done 
by the angel ; but thought he saw a vision. 

10. When they were past the first and the 
second ward, they came unto the iron gate 
that leadeth unto the city ; which opened 
to them of his own accord : and they went 
out, and passed on through one street; and 
forthwith the angel departed from him. 

11. And when Peter was come to him- 
self, he said, Now I know of a surety, that 
the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath de- 



livered me out of the hand of Herod, and 
from all the expectation of the people of 
the Jews. 

12. And when he had considered the 
thing, he came to the house of Mary the 
mother of John, whose surname was Mark; 
where many were gathered together praying. 

13. And as Peter knocked at the door of 
the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named 
Rhoda. 

14. And when she knew Peter's voice, she 
opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, 
and told how Peter stood before the gate. 

15. And they said unto her, Thou art 
mad. But she constantly affirmed that it 
was even so. Then said they, It is his 
angel. 

16. But Peter continued knocking* and 
when they had opened the door } and saw 
him, they were astonished. 

17. But he, beckoning unto them with the 
hand to hold their peace, declared unto them 
how the Lord had brought him out of the 
prison. And he said, Go shew these things 
unto James, and to the brethren. And he 
departed, and went into another place. 

18. Now as soon as it was day, there was 
no small stir among the soldiers, what was 
become of Peter. 

19. And when Herod had sought for him, 
and found him not, he examined the keepers, 
and commanded that they should be put to 
death. And he went down from Judaea 
to Caesarea, and there abode. 

20. 1[ And Herod was highly displeased 
with them of Tyre and Sidon : but they 
came with one accord to him, and, having 
made Blastus the king's chamberlain their 
friend, desired peace ; because their country 
was nourished by the king's coimtry. 

21. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed 
in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and 
made an oration unto them. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 163 

22. And the people gave a shout, saying, 24. 1J But the word of God grew and 
// is the voice of a god, and not of a man. multiplied. 

23. And immediately the angel of the 25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from 
Lord smote him, because he gave not God Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their 
the glory : and he was eaten of worms, and ministry, and took with them John, whose 
gave up the ghost. surname was Mark. 

1. Hitherto the persecutions of the disciples have ori- 
ginated with, and been carried on by, the Jews. Now we 
reach the point where, whatever may have been the origi- 
nating cause of the attack, the power of pagan Rome ap- 
pears as directly concerned in it. In how many ways does 
this Book of Acts present an epitome of the fortunes of 
the Church ! The trials from without, originating in the 
frenzied hatred of the Jew, or the " superb contempt " of 
the Roman, and involving threatening, imprisonment, scour- 
ging, death ; the trial from within, the sins of Ananias and 
Sapphira, and of Simon Magus, and the worse than follies 
of the Judaizers, — how much of the future story of the 
Church is imaged in these things ! And then, God be 
thanked, on the other side, the growth without and the 
growth within, the increase of the mustard-seed, and 
the working of the leaven, souls gathered, holy lives, blessed 
deaths, — all the proofs of a Divine presence, and a heavenly 
life, in the mystical Body of Christ, the New Jerusalem, the 
Church of the living God. 

2. Several Herods are mentioned in the Gospels and Acts : 
(1) Herod the Great, the rebuilder of the temple, and the 
murderer of the Holy Innocents ; * (2) Herod Antipas, son of 
Herod the Great, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, the slayer 
of John Baptist, and the one to whom Pilate sent our 
Lord ; 2 (3) Herod Philip I., the first husband of Herodias ; 3 
(4) Herod Philip II., "tetrarch of Iturea and the region of 
Trachonitis ; " 4 (5) Herod Agrippa I., the Edomite, the 
actor in this fourth persecution ; and (6) Herod Agrippa II., 
before whom and Festus, St. Paul made his defence. 5 

1 Matt. ii. 1. 4 Luke iii. 1. 

2 Matt. xiv. 1-12 ; Mark vi. 14-29 ; Luke ix. 7-9, xxiii. 7. s Acts xxv. 

3 Mark vi. 17 ; Luke iii. 19 



164 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

If we may believe the testimony of Josephus, the Herod 
here mentioned was beneficent and kindly in temper ; and, 
while he "was more friendly to the Greeks than to the 
Jews," he still "loved to live continually at Jerusalem," and 
was so careful in the observance of the law that no day 
"passed over his head without its appointed sacrifice." l He 
was also, however, selfishly ambitious and fond of popularity ; 
and therefore, as Pilate was "willing to content the people " 
by giving up our Lord to be crucified, and as Felix and 
Festus were "willing to do the Jews a pleasure" 2 in the 
case of St. Paul, so he, for similar reasons, " stretched forth 
his hands to vex certain of the Church." His beneficence 
and kindness were outward shows to promote his selfish 
ends, and not principles that lived in his real character. 

3. The James who is here mentioned as having met his 
martyrdom, not by any Jewish punishment, but by that 
sword which was one of the insignia of the civil power, was 
the brother of John, and one of the three Apostles who 
appear so distinctly in the Gospels. 3 He is known as James 
the Greater. The incident in the Gospels to which one's 
thoughts go back is that visit of Salome, the wife of Zebedee, 
to our Lord, when she joined with her two sons, James and 
John, in asking that they might sit, the one on His right 
hand and the other on His left, in His kingdom ; and when 
our Lord asked whether they were able to drink of His cup 
and be baptized with His baptism, and they replied that they 
were able. 4 The event proved that this was no vain boast. 
The baptism and the cup came to St. James now in one 
supreme moment ; to St. John they were present through 
long years of patient endurance. 

We may all of us well remember what Gregory the Great 
says : " That there are two kinds of martyrdom, the one 

1 Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX., vii. 3. 

2 Mark xv. 15 ; Acts xxiv. 27, xxv. 9. 

3 Matt. xvii. ; 2 Pet. i. 18 ; Mark xiv. 33. 

4 Matt. xx. 20-23 > Mark x. 35-40. Compare for the baptism, Luke xii. 50; and for 
the cup, Mark xiv. 36. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 165 

secret and the other public, our Lord Himself testifies ; who 
when He had asked, 'Are ye able to drink of the cup that I 
shall drink of?' and they had answered, 'We are able,' im- 
mediately added, 'Ye shall drink indeed of my cup.' For, 
what is the cup but the anguish of the Passion ? as He 
says in another place, ' Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me.' The sons of Zebedee, James and John, did 
not both die as martyrs, although both did drink of the cup. 
For John, though he did not finish his life by martyrdom, 
nevertheless stands forth a martyr. The suffering which he 
did not endure in the body, he did endure in his soul. To 
die, indeed, by the hand of the persecutor, is visible martyr- 
dom ; but it is also secret martyrdom to bear contumely, and 
to love those that hate us. We, therefore, although we are 
not slain with the sword of persecution, are still martyrs if 
we truly preserve patience in our souls." * In an age of 
exaggeration and much unreality, such words are well worth 
pondering. 

4. The imprisonment of St. Peter is, to say the least, an 
indication of the complete fulfilment of our Lord's words, 
"another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou would- 
est not." 2 His deliverance would prove to him that till the 
time for that fulfilment came, when he should be old, he was 
safe under the protection of Him whose angels are "all 
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall 
be heirs of salvation." 3 

With the exception of the account of his presence and his 
speech at the council in Jerusalem, no further mention of 
St. Peter occurs in this book. He disappears from it as 
completely as if he had met his death at the hands of Herod. 
This disappearance is fully explained by the fact recorded in 
the Epistle to the Galatians, 4 that at the time of the council 

1 Gregory the Great on Mark x. 38. The passage occurs in that part of the collec- 
tions from the expositions of Gregory which the Benedictine editors attribute to 
Alulfus. John xxi. 18. 3 Heb. i. 14. 

4 Gal. ii. 6-10. On the identity of this visit with that recorded in Acts xv., see 
Lightfoot, Epistle to the Galatians, p. 122. 



1 66 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

the apostleship of the uncircumcision was transferred from 
St. Peter to St. Paul ; " for He that wrought effectually in 
Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was 
mighty in [Paul] towards the Gentiles." Nor is it without 
meaning, that, after St. Peter thus passed into the apostolate 
of the circumcision, he is named after James " the Lord's 
brother ; " and that, in immediate connection with this, we 
are told how St. Paul at Antioch " withstood him to the face 
because he was to be blamed." r These things are simply 
and absolutely inexplicable on the modern, ultramontane, 
and Jesuit theory of a supremacy over the Church vested in 
St. Peter. That theory involves as complete a break with 
Scripture as it does with historic testimony. 

5. The Mary at whose house the disciples were gathered 
was probably a sister of Barnabas. 2 Her son, John Mark, is 
sometimes spoken of by his double name, sometimes as John, 
sometimes as Mark. 3 It would seem that he had been con- 
verted by St. Peter, who calls him his son. 4 He accompanied 
Barnabas and Saul when they returned to Antioch from 
Jerusalem, and also went with them on their first missionary 
journey. For some unexplained reason, though evidently one 
not creditable to him, he left them at Perga in Pamphylia, 
and went back to Jerusalem ; and this desertion on his part 
gave rise to the " sharp contention " between Paul and 
Barnabas. 5 "It has been surmised that filial anxiety about 
[his mother's] welfare during the persecutions and the fam- 
ine which distressed the Church at Jerusalem was the chief 
cause of Mark's withdrawal from the missionary labors of 
Paul and Barnabas." 6 More probably it was a failing in cour- 

1 Gal. ii. 9, n. 

2 Col. iv. 10. Alford in his Prolegomena [chap. Hi. sec. 1] on the Gospels, makes 
Mary the sister of Barnabas, and in his comment on Acts xii. 12 says she was his 
aunt! 

3 John Mark, Acts xii. 12, 25, and xv. 37; John, Acts xiii. 5, 13; Mark, Acts xv. 
39; Col. iv. 10; 2 Tim. iv, 11 , Phil. 24. 

4 1 Pet. v. 13. 

5 Acts xiii. 13, xv. 38, 39. 

• 6 Dean Plumptre in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. l6j 

age to meet the difficulties and dangers of the way. What- 
ever it was, it is clear that it did not permanently separate 
him from the Apostle to the Gentiles. For St. Paul men- 
tions him as one of his "fellow workers unto the kingdom 
of God who have been a comfort unto " him ; and, in the 
last Epistle that he ever wrote, commends him, as profitable 
to [him] for the ministry. 1 

The testimony of all antiquity connects Mark closely with 
St. Peter, and makes him the Apostle's amanuensis and in- 
terpreter. 2 If some of the most distinguished of the early 
writers and historians may be believed, he accompanied St. 
Peter to Rome, and was afterwards sent on a mission to 
Egypt, where he founded the Church of Alexandria, so long 
a centre of the best learning, and so prominent in early 
Christian history ; thence he went preaching in various 
places ; but returned finally to Alexandria, became its bishop, 
and suffered martyrdom. 3 

6. When the damsel who had recognized St. Peter's voice 
persisted in declaring to those who had assembled to pray for 
his deliverance that he stood at the gate, they replied, " It is 
his angel." In saying this they simply expressed a common 
belief of the Jews of our Lord's time, a belief general, also, 
among the early Christians, and assuredly forbidden to no 
one to entertain, — that to each person there is allotted a 
guardian angel, whose special ministrations are devoted to 
him. 

Bishop Bull says all that need be said on this matter. 
After quoting our Lord's words, "their angels do always 

1 Col. iv. 10, ii ; 2 Tim. iv. n. 

2 Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Lib. III. chap. i. § i), calls him " the disciple and inter- 
preter of Peter ; n and again (Lib. III. chap. x. § 6), " the interpreter and follower of 
Peter." 

3 Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Jerome, all bear this testimony. 
Whatever may be thought of St. Mark's visit to Rome, his relations to St. Peter and 
his connection with Alexandria and Egypt appear to be established. Bishop Pearson — 
as others also have done — thought that the Babylon spoken of at the conclusion of St. 
Peter's second Epistle was neither Rome nor Babylon the Great, but Babylon in Egypt, 
otherwise known as Old Cairo. Pearson, Minor Works, vol. ii. p. 353 ff. 



l68 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

behold the face of my Father which is in heaven," T he goes 
on: ". . . Another text, which seems plainly to countenance 
the opinion of guardian angels, is that known one in the 
twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where we read 
that St. Peter having been imprisoned by Herod, and being 
miraculously delivered out of prison by an angel, presently 
comes to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose sur- 
name was Mark, where many Christians were met together 
unto prayer, and probably praying for St. Peter's deliver- 
ance ; coming to this house, and knocking and desiring 
entrance, the maid that came to the door hearing and know- 
ing his voice, and being surprised with joy and wonder at his 
unexpected coming, left the door shut as it was, and, run- 
ning back to the company, tells them that Peter was at the 
door. But they, being persuaded that Peter was at that time 
fast enough in his chains, slighted the maid's report, yea, 
and accused her of madness. But she soberly and constantly 
affirming that it was even so as she had said, they then (sup- 
posing it impossible it should be Peter himself) make this 
conclusion, It is his angel ; i.e., his guardian angel, assuming 
at that time his shape and voice. The whole story you may 
read, vv. 12-16 of that chapter. 

" They who tell us here that the word ayyeXos may be 
translated a messenger, and so be understood of a messen- 
ger sent by St. Peter from his prison, to give the brethren 
intelligence of his concerns, do, in my judgment, fasten an 
intolerably absurd sense upon the text. For, with what 
reason, I beseech you, could those Christians imagine that 
the maid, to whom the Apostle was so well known (as the 
text itself expressly affirms), should mistake a messenger 
from Peter for Peter himself, especially after the maid had 
so positively and constantly affirmed that she was sure it 

1 Matt, xviii. 10. As in most cases, so here, there are two opposite errors to be avoided : 
first, the practical denial that there are such beings as angels ; and, secondly, the offering 
worship to a guardian angel, which must be, of necessity, an act of idolatry. Angels 
refused worship when attempted to be offered by St. John. One angel only claimed it, 
and he was a fallen one. Matt. iv. 9 ; Luke iv. 7. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 169 

was Peter ? Besides, if the Christian brethren, when they 
made this conclusion, It is his angel, had meant only that it 
was a messenger from St. Peter, they would doubtless have 
presently either gone themselves, or sent the maid again to 
the door to let in the messenger, that they might know what 
news he brought from the Apostle, about whom they were 
so solicitous. But this they did not, as the text plainly inti- 
mates, being under a consternation, till after the continual 
knocking of St. Peter ; and then they took courage to go 
themselves and open the door. 

" Lastly, It is here again to be remembered that the per- 
sons who spoke these words, It is his angel, were Jews, and 
consequently that the words are to be understood as spoken 
ex sententia yitdceornm, in a sense agreeable to the opinion of 
the Jews, who generally acknowledged such guardian angels, 
as hath been already more than once observed. This opin- 
ion they retained after they had been taught the doctrine 
of Christianity ; nor doth the holy text reflect any the least 
blame upon their opinion." l 

" From these and the like texts of Scripture, seeming so 
plainly to favor the general belief of Jews, Christians, yea, 
and of the wiser heathens, I cannot but judge it highly 
probable that every faithful person at least hath his particu- 
lar good genius, or angel, appointed by God over him, as the 
guardian and guide of his life. But yet, if any man shall look 
on our inferences from these texts as not demonstrative, and 
shall modestly doubt of or dissent from so received an 
opinion, for my part I shall not quarrel with him, provided 
that in general he acknowledges the ministry of angels for 

1 It is almost inconceivable, but nevertheless true, that there are persons, who, when 
they read the words " It is his angel," suppose them to mean that St. Peter's ghost had 
appeared to the damsel ! This absurd mistake grows out of some confused idea that 
good people when they die become angels ; an idea fostered by certain so-called hymns. 
In a New-England burial-ground there is a headstone which says of the person whom it 
commemorates, that on a given day " her ethereal part became a seraph." 

Indeed, the prevalent irrecognition of the existence of angels, and the rejection of the 
doctrine of the intermediate state, cannot but help to make people the victims of 
the wildest delusions, even those of Swedenborgianism and Spiritualism. 



I70 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

the good of those who shall be heirs of salvation, as need 
shall require." 

7. After St. Peter has concluded the account of his deliver- 
ance, he adds, " Go show these things unto James and to 
the brethren." Who is this James ? He cannot, of course, 
be " James the brother of John," whose martyrdom had 
preceded St. Peter's imprisonment. There can be no doubt 
that the person intended is "James the Lord's brother," 
whom St. Paul saw on his first visit to the Church in Jerusa- 
lem. 1 This James sustained a very special relation to that 
Church. For, besides St. Paul's visit to him, just noted, and 
St. Peter's reference to him here, we find him presiding in 
the Council of Jerusalem ; to him St. Paul "went in " on his 
return from his third missionary tour ; and they who came 
from Jerusalem, disturbing the Church at Antioch, "came 
from James." 2 What possible reason can be given against 
saying with all antiquity that he was the first Bishop of 
Jerusalem ? 

Was he one of the original twelve ? If so, he must have 
been "James the son of Alphaeus," known as "James the 
Less;" for, in addition to the consideration just spoken of, 
St. Mark says expressly, that " Mary the mother of James the 
Less " (literally the little), who must have been the wife of 
Alphaeus, "was looking on afar off" at our Lord's cruci- 
fixion ; 3 while it is certain that Salome, and not Mary, was 
the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James the Greater, and 
John. 4 

Still there are very great difficulties in the way of identify- 
ing James the Less with James the Lord's brother. It is 
impossible to note them in detail here, and it must suffice 
to mention two principal ones. In the first place, we are 
told that at a period undoubtedly subsequent to the appoint- 
ment of the twelve, when, indeed, our Lord was taking His 

1 Gal. i. 19 ; compare Acts ix. 27. 

2 Acts xv. 13, xxi. 18; Gal. ii. 12. 

3 Mark xv. 40. 

4 Matt, xxvii. 56, compared with Mark xv. 40. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. IJ1 

final departure from Galilee, His brethren did not believe in 
Him. 1 Now, this could hardly have been said, had one of 
them so conspicuously believed in Him as to be numbered 
among the Apostles. Jerome attempts to meet the difficulty 
by saying that James " was not one of those who disbe- 
lieved." But this is mere conjecture. In the next place, 
at a period still subsequent to the call of the twelve, our 
Lord's brethren are clearly distinguished from the Apostles 
as they come with His mother " desiring to speak with 
Him ; " 2 and the same distinction is made when we are 
told that the Apostles, having returned from the mountain 
of the Ascension, " continued with one accord in prayer and 
supplication with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, 
and with His brethren." 3 

It may be asked whether there is any account in the New 
Testament of James's abandonment of his disbelief in our 
Lord. The reply must be, there is no direct account. But 
there is something in the fifteenth chapter of the First 
Epistle to the Corinthians, which may throw some light upon 
the matter. St. Paul there gives an enumeration of those to 
whom our Lord appeared after His resurrection, as follows : 
" He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. [After that] 
He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of 
whom the greater part remain unto this day, but some are 
fallen asleep. After that He was seen of James, then of all 
the apostles." Now it is, of course, possible that the James 
mentioned here was one of the twelve. But it seems more 
probable that he was not ; for if with the twelve he had 
already seen the Lord, it adds nothing to the number of 
witnesses to name him again and by himself. And the 
Apostle's purpose is evidently to enumerate the witnesses 
to the resurrection, and not the appearances of our Lord. 
The only objection to this adding James to the Apostles is, 

1 John vii. 5. 

2 Matt. xii. 46 ; Mark iii. 31 ; Luke viii. 19. 

3 Acts i. 14. 



172 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

that the magical number twelve will be destroyed by being 
increased. But this it must be, at any rate. For even if 
the phrase " all the Apostles " is to be understood as mean- 
ing only the twelve (which is highly improbable), still 
St. Paul must be added here, and from other places in the 
New Testament we must also add, to say the least, Barnabas, 
Andronicus, and Junia; while, if the magical number ' is once 
overpassed, it cannot matter how many are to be added to it. 

Where all is conjecture, may we not venture to suppose, 
that "James the brother of the Lord," having seen Hini 
after His resurrection, abandoned his unbelief, and with 
the other brethren joined himself to the disciples, and was 
placed by the college of apostles at the head of the Church 
in Jerusalem ? Anyhow, if he is to be included in the 
original twelve, he furnishes the first instance of a localized 
apostleship. If he is not to be so included, he furnishes 
the first instance of an extended, as well as a localized, 
apostleship. In either case we find in Jerusalem a body of 
Deacons and a body of Presbyters, with one set over them 
as Apostle or Bishop, or what you will ; an arrangement 
which looks marvellously like a Diocesan Episcopacy exist- 
ing in the "Apostles' time." 

Another question is raised concerning this James ; namely, 
how are we to understand the appellation, "the brother of 
the Lord" ? And this question carries with it the interpre- 
tation of the phrase, "the brethren of the Lord." It can 
never be so answered as to preclude all doubt and discus- 
sion, nor is it important that it should be. 

In the early ages the prevalent opinion (one cannot say 
universal) was that the brethren of the Lord were the sons 
of Joseph by a former wife, and were so called in the same 
way that Joseph was called His father, "by an exceptional 
use of the term adapted to the exceptional fact of the mirac- 

1 The Church has always regarded the number twelve as a mystical number, implying 
completeness. It was reserved to the advocates of parity to turn mystery into supersti- 
tion, and give a magical character to the mystical number. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 1 73 

ulous Incarnation." Tertullian appears to be the only writer 
of note who dissented from this opinion. 

Towards the close of the fourth century (about 383), one 
Helvidius, who lived at Rome, writing against the notion 
that a celibate life was, in itself, superior in holiness to a 
married life, took the ground that our Lord's mother bore 
other children to Joseph. 

In replying to him, Jerome advocated an entirely novel 
view ; namely, that the Lord's brethren were, according to 
the flesh, only His cousins, the sons of Alphaeus, whose 
wife Mary he regarded as the sister of our Lord's mother. 1 

The first of these three opinions has widely prevailed in 
the Eastern Church, while the third has met with more 
acceptance in the West. Of late years, indeed, among 
European writers and scholars, the first theory has largely 
dropped out of sight, and discussion has turned mainly on 
the second and third. I confess that, notwithstanding its 
apparent abandonment, the oldest view appears to me the 
most probable. 

8. It is not without interest, to read, in connection with 
St. Luke's account of the death of Herod, the narrative of 
Josephus : — 

" Now, when Agrippa had reigned three years over all 
Judaea, he came to the city Caesarea, which was formerly 
called Strato's Tower ; and there he exhibited shows in 
honor of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was a 
certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety ; at 
which festival a great multitude was gotten together of the 
principal persons, and such as were of dignity through his 
province. On the second day of which shows, he put on a 
garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly 
wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning ; 
at which time the silver of his garment, being illuminated by 

1 This whole subject is treated very fully by Bishop Lrghtfoot, in Dissertation //., 
appended to his Commentary on Galatians. The reader may also be referred to a brief 
Treatise, James the Lord's Brother, by Chauncey W, Fitch, D.D. 



174 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

the first reflection of the sun's rays upon it, shone out after 
a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread 
a horror over those that looked intently upon him ; and 
presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place and 
another from another (though not for his good), that 'he 
was a god ; ' and they added, ' Be thou merciful to us ; for, 
although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, 
yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal 
nature.' " 

" Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject, 
their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward iooked 
up, he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, 
and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger 
of ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good 
tidings to him ; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe 
pain also arose in his bowels, and began in a most violent 
manner. He, therefore, looked upon his friends, and said, 
' I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart 
this life ; while Providence thus reproves the lying words 
you just now said to me ; and I, who was by you called 
immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But 
I am bound to accept of what Providence allots, as it pleases 
God ; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid 
and happy manner.' When he said this, his pain was be- 
come violent. Accordingly he was carried into the palace ; 
and the rumor went abroad everywhere, that he would cer- 
tainly die in a little time. But the multitude presently sat 
in sackcloth, with their wives and children, after the law of 
their country, and besought God for the king's recovery. 
All places were also full of mourning and lamentation. Now 
the king rested in a high chamber ; and, as he saw them 
below lying prostrate on the ground, he could not himself 
forbear weeping. And when he had been quite worn out by 
the pain for five days, he departed this life." ' 

1 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews ; Book XIX, c. viii. 2. Compare Book XVIII. 
c. vi. 7. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 1 75 

Thus far we have read of the days preceding the great 
Pentecost, of the birthday of the Church, of the mission to 
the Jews and Samaritans, and of the preparations for the 
world-wide mission to the Gentiles. It is a brief narrative, 
and yet how much it contains ! The primordia, the founda- 
tions of that Covenant Kingdom which is to carry to the 
nations God's final revelation of Himself, have been brought 
before us. We have seen the outlines, if nothing more, of 
its organization, its ministry, its sacraments, and its worship. 
We have been told of the doctrine committed to it to teach, 
the ideal and the law of life it is to enjoin on men, and of 
the great motive-power which stands behind and gives life 
to doctrine, ideal, and law. Where shall we find that motive- 
power ? In the Holy Ghost, concerning whom it has been 
well said, " Christ's errand being done, and He gone up on 
high, the Spirit came down for Him and in His Name and 
stead, to take the charge and to establish an order in the 
Church." 1 Even at the risk of repetition, some closing 
words must be added. 

This book has been called the "Gospel of the Holy 
Ghost." And it may well be so called. 2 It begins with the 
mention of the commandments, which "through the Holy 
Ghost " the Lord gave to His Apostles, and the promises 
that they should " be baptized with the Holy Ghost," and 
should "receive power after that the Holy Ghost" had 
come upon them. It ends with the application to the Jews 
of the words which " the Holy Ghost spake by Esaias the 
prophet ; " and all along the course of the history, we find 
the record of the "diversities of gifts," all proceeding from 
"the same Spirit." 3 The gift of sanctifying grace, given 
to each man for his individual building-up in the Christian 
life ; the gifts of special endowments to be used for the com- 
mon profit,4 whatever may become of us ; the gift of grace 

1 Andrewes, On the Sending of the Holy Ghost. John Scott, Christian Life, chap. vii. 
sec. vi. § vi. 

2 See Dean H'owson's Bohlen Lectures for 1881, p. 177, ff. 

3 1 Cor. xii. 4. * 1 Cor. xii. 7 ; npbs to avufopov. 



176 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

for a holy calling, 1 even the ministry of Christ and the 
stewardship of the mysteries of God, 2 — all these come 
through the one Spirit, and are specially presented in this 
Book of Acts as so coming ; and He, therefore, is made promi- 
nent in this third age of Divine revelation — in which indeed 
we are living — as the One Paraclete dwelling in the Church 
as the Body of Christ, and, equally, in the souls of individual 
Christians. 

He of whom the angel said to the Blessed Virgin, " The 
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the- 
Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore, also, that holy 
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of 
God," 3 He it was by whom the Lord Jesus was "conceived 
by the Holy Ghost," and so became " Incarnate." Nor, thus 
appearing at the beginning of our Lord's human life, does 
He disappear, and leave the Incarnation an isolated act. 
On the contrary, poured on Christ's humanity " not by meas- 
ure," 4 He abides with that humanity, and ever and always 
sanctifies it. 

In like manner, when the Lord's mystical Body was to 
come into the world, even His Church, " the fulness of Him 
that filleth all in all," 5 it was the power of the Highest in 
the Holy Ghost that gave it life on the day of Pentecost, and 
that, " shed on it abundantly," is, according to the Lord's own 
promise, to " abide with it forever." 6 So are made good the 
Apostle's words, " For through Him we have access by one 
Spirit unto the Father." 7 

This Dispensation, therefore, under which we are living, is 
the Dispensation of the Spirit. In it the Ho]y Spirit ever 
worketh. All is done by Him. Wherefore all is spiritual, 
and not fleshly ; all is lifted out of man's sphere of opera- 

1 Eph. iii. 7, 8. 

2 Bishop Andrewes, as above, Sermon XV.; Bishop Sanderson, Sermon III., Ad 
Clerum. 

3 Luke i. 35. 6 John xiv. 16. 

4 John iii. 34. 7 Eph. ii. 18. 

5 Eph. i. 23. 



THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. iyj 

tion ; all is lifted up to a plane far above any thing that is 
carnal and material. 

Now, this blessed truth is in danger from more quarters 
than one. There are those who can not or will not see " that 
as the Son was equally God with the Holy Ghost, when the 
Holy Ghost descended on Him at His baptism as man, so 
the Holy Ghost was equally God with the Son when sent by 
Him from heaven on His ascension to apply the benefits 
of His Incarnation," x including His one sacrifice, to his 
elect on earth. Failing to grasp this truth, and therefore 
fearing lest by admitting the work of the Spirit they may 
derogate from the honor of the Son, 2 they shrink from 
the full meaning of the words of the Constantinopolitan 
Symbol, " the Lord the Life-Giver," in which they confess 
with their lips what they — we may hope unconsciously — 
deny in their hearts, touching the Third Person in the ever- 
blessed Trinity. 

Others, again, having lost all idea of the personality of the 
Holy Ghost, and conceiving of Him only as a Divine quality, 
or, at most, a Divine influence, cannot comprehend, or make 
real to themselves, His relation to the Covenant Body of the 
Christian Dispensation. His name occurs, indeed, to them 
in the forms of baptism and of blessing, and they read 
about Him in the New Testament. But no thought of Him 
as an actual Person administering the " dispensation of the 
fulness of times " ever occurs to them ; while the idea of 
addressing a prayer to Him would strike them with astonish- 
ment, if with nothing more. 

Still others, forgetting apparently that sacraments do not 
stand in the natural, but in the supernatural order, and 
taking up materialistic theories concerning them, especially 
concerning the Holy Eucharist, fix the thought upon the 
act of the earthly minister, and do not rise to Him who 

1 Ffoulkes, Primitive Consecration, etc., p. II. 

2 The difficulty is as old as the time of Basil (370), who answered it in his treatise 
De Spiritu Sancto. 



1/8 THE FOURTH PERSECUTION. 

works in all sacraments and means of grace, the One Spirit 
by whom "we are all baptized into one body, . . . and have 
been made to drink into one Spirit." * 

One there is, and only one, who has dared to arrogate to 
himself the title that belongs of right to the Holy Spirit, 
and to claim for himself that power which is the special 
power of the same Spirit ; the power of which our Lord 
spake when He said to His Apostles, "When He, the Spirit 
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." 2 

Against all such misconceptions, perversions, pitiable 
neglect, or arrogant assumption, this Book of Acts makes 
continual and continuous protest. Its teaching, in this 
regard, is the culmination of all its teaching, historical, 
doctrinal, or ethical. 

"The way to the knowledge of God is from the One 
Spirit, through the One Son, to the. One Father. And, on 
the other hand, the natural order of goodness and sanctifica- 
tion, 3 and the regal dignity extends from the Father, by the 
Only-Begotten, to the Spirit." 

" He saith, ' There are differences of gifts, but the same 
Spirit ; and there are differences of administrations, but the 
same Lord ; and there are differences of operations, but the 
same God, which worketh all in all.' And again he saith, 
' All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing 
to every man severally as He will.' Let us not think that 
because the Apostle mentions first the Spirit, next the Son, 
and thirdly God and the Father, he intends to change the 
usual order. For he begins from our own relative position. 
We, receiving gifts, first meet Him who distributes them, 
then we recognize Him through whom they come, and so 
lift up our thoughts to the Source and Cause of all good 
things." 4 

1 i Cor. xii. 13. 

2 John xvi. 13. 

3 Rom. ii. 14, 15, 25-29; 2 Thess. ii. 13; 1 Pet. i. 2. 

4 Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, sects, xxxvii., xlvii. ; in Harvey's Eccl. Ang. Vindex 
Catholicus, vol. i. pp. 382, 399. 



